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“Over the course of the last six months, we engaged in a thorough, customer-led process to understand the intrinsic value of the GE brand for our planned future companies,” said Linda Boff, GE chief marketing officer. “Based on data and analysis drawn from thousands of conversations, it became clear that the GE name and our century-plus old Monogram represent a legacy of innovation, symbol of trust by global customers, pride for our team, and a talent magnet for future leaders. We’re proud these future businesses will be able to build on GE’s DNA of innovation.”

In early 2024, GE plans to execute the tax-free spin-off of GE Vernova, GE’s portfolio of energy businesses, which together with its customers provides one-third of the world’s electricity and is focused on accelerating the path to reliable, affordable and sustainable energy.

The new name is a combination of “ver,” derived from “verde” and “verdant” to signal the greens and blues of the Earth, and “nova,” from the Latin “novus,” or “new,” reflecting a new era of lower carbon energy that GE Vernova will help deliver.

GE Vernova will be responsible for an install base of more than 7,000 gas turbines and 400 GW of renewable energy equipment.

News item from GE

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The Commission’s decision has no impact on its approval of the transaction under EU merger rules, as this was based on rectified information from the second notification.

The European Commission has fined General Electric (GE) EUR 52 million for allegedly providing incorrect information during the Commission’s investigation under the EU Merger Regulation of GE’s planned acquisition of LM Wind Power.

On 11 January 2017, GE notified its proposed acquisition of LM Wind. In this notification, GE stated that it did not have any higher power output wind turbine for offshore applications in development, beyond its existing 6-MW turbine. However, through information collected from a third party, the Commission found that GE was simultaneously offering a 12-MW offshore wind turbine to potential customers.

The EU regulation obliges companies in a merger investigation to provide correct and non misleading information. This is considered essential for the Commission to review mergers and takeovers in a timely and effective manner.

“Our merger assessment and decision-making can only be as good as the information that we obtain to support it,” said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who is in charge of competition policy. “Accurate information is essential for the Commission to take competition decisions in full knowledge of the facts. The fine imposed today on General Electric is proof that the Commission takes breaches of the obligation for companies to provide us with correct information very seriously.”

On February 2, 2017, GE withdrew its notification of the acquisition of LM Wind. On February 13, 2017 GE re-notified the same transaction, this time including complete information on its future project. On March 20, 2017, the Commission approved the proposed acquisition. Then, on July 6, 2017, the Commission addressed a Statement of Objections to GE alleging that it had breached its procedural obligations under the Merger Regulation.

The Commission’s investigation has confirmed that, contrary to GE’s statements in its first notification in January 2017, GE had indeed been offering a higher power output offshore wind turbine to potential customers. As a result, GE’s statement in the notification form that it had no higher power output wind turbines for offshore in development is incorrect.

However, this decision has no impact on the Commission’s approval of the transaction under EU merger rules, as this was based on rectified information from the second notification.

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The battle between virus and host is proving similar whether biological or virtual. GE Global researchers aim to build the world’s first industrial immune system that can detect, locate, and neutralize cyber threats much like the human immune system fights viruses that infect the body.

“We’re committed to building the world’s first industrial immune system that detects, locates, and neutralizes cyber threats just like the human immune system does with viruses that invade the body,” explained Justin John, Technology Director, Controls and Optimization, GE Global Research, in a recent press statement.

For example when a cold or flu virus enters the body, part of what makes the immune system so effective is its ability to first recognize something is wrong and then react to it. In a similar way, GE machines can use sensors to detect a potential cyber threat. The researchers plan to combine advanced machine learning and control algorithms with rigorous physics-based models to detect, locate, and ultimately mitigate cyber viruses and attacks.

This project is the result of a $12.6 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy. GE scientists plan to develop advanced cyber-protection and “immune-system” technologies that aim to halt attacks on critical power systems and assets — including wind farms.

In 2017, University of Tulsa researchers proved how easy it was to hack into wind farms around the United States. The researchers managed to gain access to a wind farm’s control system and successfully install software that would transmit false signals to the system. (read the article here).

That same year, the DOE made public a report that found more than a half-dozen “capability gaps” in the power sector’s ability to respond to a cyber attack on the electric grid (including an electric cybersecurity workforce, expertise, and supply chain).

As part of the DOE-funded project with GE and partners such as National Labs, $4.8 million is going toward field-tested, commercially viable cyber-protection systems that will enable wind farms to survive sophisticated attacks on the control systems of turbines. (GE Global is also working on safeguarding natural gas and quantum-computing systems against cyber attacks.)

The research will use artificial intelligence (AI) and control algorithms to detect and defeat cyber viruses and attacks on power operations.

GE Global Research has been awarded $12.6 million from the DOE in 2018 for quantum-level cybersecurity of critical power assets, including wind farms.

“GE is doing this by combining the deep system insights of AI and digital twins with industrial controls,” said John. A digital twin refers to a digital replica or digital models of physical assets, processes, or systems. For example, GE’s digital twins will ensure cyber threats are detected and precisely located. “What we’re creating is essentially an invisible presence, or ‘digital ghost,’ which watches over and monitors every part of a power system and is capable of changing the operation of that system to allow it to safely operate through a cyber attack.”

John noted that GE researchers have made substantial progress on an existing DOE cybersecurity program to protect electric power plants from cyber threats. “Industrial controls are the brain that automatically acts on the digital twin insights to then neutralize a given threat,” he added.

In a recent press release, GE said that the introduction of such advancements in the onshore and emerging offshore market would result in a significantly more reliable and secure wind-power infrastructure. As part of its new research efforts, the new algorithms will be implemented and validated at a wind-turbine testing site.

Best practices for cybersecurity
For a wind-farm owner, safeguarding networks and control systems to eliminate unexpected outages and unplanned downtime is extremely important. The threat from cyber attacks is expected to rise as more networks connect and go online.

For example, a recent report from Navigant Research found that cyber threats are increasing as more devices connect through the IoT or internet of things. IoT lets wind-farm operators monitor and regulate much of a turbine’s operations through remote access, which may result in time and cost savings. However, the IoT connection also opens up risks to cyber attacks.

These are a few best practices recommended by GE Power (a separate division of General Electric) for maintaining a continuously protected environment.

• Keep software and firmware up-to-date with timely patch updates.
• Hire an external cybersecurity company to perform site evaluations, threat modeling, and penetration testing to evaluate systems.
• Engage an automate patch system for critical ICS — so that manual update schedules aren’t a barrier.
• Participate in security communities focused on business environments to stay current on trending attacks and best practices.
• Monitor critical systems for security-related events and anomalies.
• Transition from a reactive to a predictive security program.
• Educate operations and IT personnel on a regular basis on new attack mechanisms so that they can act as watchful eyes across physical and system landscapes.

The last tip means that every employee needs to be armed with the tools and proper protocol for maintaining the company’s security profile.

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