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Let’s jump right in!

Beyond the gas turbine backlog

For some time now, we have been talking about the long waiting times for new gas turbines.

The story is not new. Demand for electricity has increased rapidly, particularly with data centres and new industrial loads, while the turbine manufacturers have found themselves with order books extending well into the future. Delivery times that once seemed manageable have become a problem for developers who need power sooner rather than later.

But there is something new in the story. The market is beginning to adapt.

Operators are not simply waiting for the turbine manufacturers to solve the problem. They are looking at what they already have, what is available elsewhere, and even at completely different ways of producing the equipment they need.

The gas turbine supply chain is starting to reinvent itself.

Instead of simply asking the turbine manufacturers when they can deliver a new machine, the question is becoming:

What else can we do?

And the answers are becoming increasingly interesting.

First, get more from the machines already running

The most obvious alternative to buying a new turbine is to make the existing fleet more productive.

That sounds simple, but the scale of the opportunity is significant. In June, Power Engineering looked at the growing interest in upgrading existing gas-turbine plants as new-machine delivery times stretch towards the end of the decade in many cases. The attraction is obvious: the turbine is already there, the site is already connected to the grid, and much of the permitting and infrastructure work has already been completed.

One example is Atura Power’s Halton Hills Generating Station in Ontario. Instead of adding a new unit, the operator selected an upgrade for its existing combined-cycle block. Siemens Energy says the project produced more than 40 MW of additional power, together with improvements in heat rate and fuel efficiency.

This changes the economics of the existing fleet. A gas turbine that might previously have been viewed simply as an ageing asset can now represent something different:

available generation capacity that can potentially be expanded without waiting years for a new machine.

And this is not only about increasing output.

Modern grids are asking turbines to start faster, ramp more aggressively and operate across a wider range of loads. Upgrades can therefore address output, efficiency, flexibility and operating life at the same time.

The result is an interesting shift in the way operators look at their assets. They are not necessarily trying to make an old turbine behave like a new turbine. They are trying to make the turbine they already own better suited to the grid they have today.

Then the shortage starts changing the upgrade market itself

There is an interesting second-order effect here.

If everybody starts upgrading existing machines, the upgrade market also becomes constrained.

Siemens Energy told Power Engineering that some of the hardware required for its upgrade packages has a lead time of around two years. Customers are therefore negotiating projects well ahead of installation, and some are paying preservation fees to secure hardware before final contracts are completed. The company has also seen interest in carrying out upgrades during smaller maintenance outages rather than waiting for major inspections.

That is a revealing development.

The industry’s response to a shortage of new turbines is partly to use existing turbines more intensively — but the demand for the components and services needed to upgrade those turbines can then become a bottleneck of its own.

So the question starts moving upstream. It is no longer only: How many turbines can the OEM build? It becomes:

How quickly can the whole supply chain provide the equipment needed to increase the output of the turbines we already have?

The second answer: find a turbine that already exists

This is where the story becomes more unusual. If a new machine cannot be delivered in time, the next logical question is: does the turbine have to be new? This is where the secondary market starts to matter.

Hallador Energy’s 2026 deal for 460 MW of unfired Siemens gas turbines is a particularly interesting example. Rather than simply entering the queue for new equipment, Hallador acquired turbines that already existed and arranged for the equipment to go through Siemens for factory refurbishment before being commissioned for its Merom project in Indiana.

The significance is not just the size of the project. It is the procurement model.

The traditional sequence is straightforward: Developer → OEM → new turbine → installation.

The emerging alternative looks more like: Developer → available equipment → refurbishment → installation.

When the normal supply channel cannot meet the timetable, the definition of an “available turbine” starts to change. A machine that was previously sitting outside the normal power-generation procurement cycle can suddenly become valuable, and most importantly, even OEMs can make a profit out of this trend.

And why stop at conventional power turbines?

This where the market starts becoming even more creative. The boundary between aviation and power-generation turbines has always been thinner than it might appear. Aeroderivative turbines such as the LM6000, derived from the CF6 aircraft engine, have been used in power generation for decades.

What is changing now is the urgency with which developers are looking at these alternatives. For turbine manufacturers, this creates a much bigger risk than simply losing a single equipment sale. If a developer chooses an aero-engine derived unit, reciprocating engine, refurbished turbine or another power-generation solution instead of a new gas turbine, the OEM may also lose the long-term service agreement, spare-parts business and aftermarket relationship that would have followed.

ProEnergy has been a long-standing competitor in the aeroderivative power-generation market, supplying and supporting gas-turbine units derived from aircraft engines. But as demand for gas turbines continues to surge, the market is attracting additional competitors (GasTurbineHub: From Boneyard to Baseload: How Retired Flight Engines Just Became a Serious Competitor to OEM Gas Turbines).

Thus, the market is opening the door to new players. This may ultimately be one of the most important consequences of the current shortage. When demand becomes large enough and traditional suppliers cannot respond quickly enough, opportunities appear for companies that previously sat somewhere else in the value chain. You name them; Aircraft-engine specialists, engine MRO companies, refurbishment companies, smaller turbine manufacturers, reciprocating-engine suppliers, companies offering modular power systems, and even companies developing completely different ways of generating the electricity are all finding new opportunities in the power-generation market. The recent data-centre market provides plenty of examples.

These technologies are not necessarily better than a modern large combined-cycle gas turbine. That is not really the point. They may be available sooner. And in a market where time has become a major part of the value equation, that can be enough.

And then there is the most radical response: go upstream

There is one more development that caught the industry attention because it takes the same logic much further.

Elon Musk has been increasingly vocal about the difficulty of obtaining enough gas-turbine capacity for the power requirements associated with AI infrastructure. His proposed response is not simply to find another turbine. It is to go after the bottleneck itself. SpaceX is reportedly laying the groundwork for a foundry in Texas to manufacture gas-turbine blades and vanes. Musk has said that bringing the casting of these components in-house could accelerate natural-gas turbines coming online by as much as 18 months. Whether SpaceX ultimately builds this capability at the scale being discussed remains to be seen.

But the idea is significant because it suggests that operators are no longer simply customers of the turbine industry. For years, traditional operators have been asking for greater independence, more options and better alternatives. The current supply-chain constraints may finally be forcing the market to deliver exactly that.

At that point, the operator is no longer simply a customer of the turbine industry. It is becoming an active participant in shaping how the industry develops: with more independence, more options and potentially better alternatives for delivering power. It is starting to influence the structure of the industry itself.

There is a third option: change the project itself

There is also a more fundamental response.

If the ideal plant cannot be delivered on the desired schedule, perhaps the project does not have to be designed around the ideal plant from day one. One possibility is to install simple-cycle capacity first, where fast deployment and flexibility are the priority, and plan for additional combined-cycle equipment later.

That approach recognises something that is becoming increasingly important in today’s electricity market:

the value of having some power now may be greater than the value of having the perfect plant later.

It is not necessarily the cheapest or most efficient solution over the entire life of a project, but for many cases this makes sense and that’s why we are seeing so many different powering options.

But when a data centre, industrial facility or growing electricity system is waiting for power, the value of time becomes part of the engineering decision.

So where does this leave the turbine shortage?

Perhaps the most interesting conclusion is that the shortage is beginning to produce its own set of adaptations.

We have at least four different responses emerging:

• Upgrade what you have. Increase output, improve heat rate, extend operating capability and make existing machines more flexible.

• Use existing sites differently. Take advantage of infrastructure and grid connections that are already in place rather than starting from zero.

• Look beyond the normal procurement channel. If a new turbine cannot be delivered in time, find one that already exists and refurbish it.

• Change the project strategy. Use a configuration that can be delivered sooner, even if it is not the final configuration you originally had in mind.

None of these solutions eliminates the underlying supply constraint. And that is probably the most important point. The turbine manufacturers are still expanding capacity. But so far, backlog is growing faster than manufacturing capacity.

This is why the market is not simply waiting for the OEMs to catch up. It is finding other ways around the bottleneck. So this is not a story about the shortage disappearing. It is a story about the market learning to live with it.

Looking ahead: Perhaps this is the moment where the next phase of the gas-turbine story becomes particularly interesting. For decades, the industry has been very good at designing larger, more efficient and more capable machines. Today, another kind of engineering challenge is emerging: how do you deliver more electricity when the machine you want is not available? The answer may not always be another turbine. Sometimes it may be an upgrade, sometimes a refurbished machine that has been sitting somewhere else, and sometimes it may mean changing the plant configuration. Increasingly, operators appear willing to look much harder at the assets and supply chains they already have. The gas-turbine story continues, but perhaps the next chapter is going to be written less by the people building the machines, and more by the people trying to get power from them.

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The Latest News in a Snapshot

Gas Turbine New Installations

• Kodiak and Baker Hughes plan up to 1.8 GW for data centers

  Kodiak Gas Services and Baker Hughes have signed a multi-year agreement supporting up to 1.8 GW of U.S. power generation capacity, including an initial 1 GW order targeted for delivery by 2030. The projects will use Baker Hughes gas turbines and BRUSH generators to provide flexible, behind-the-meter power for data centers and energy infrastructure.
  Source: Baker Hughes (8 July, 2026)

• FTAI secures $1.465 billion gas turbine order

  FTAI Aviation’s J&F Power Systems has signed a $1.465 billion order with a major international cloud service provider for Mod-1 CFM56 aeroderivative gas turbine generator sets. The mobile units will support the customer’s power infrastructure buildout, with deliveries scheduled through November 2027 and further orders possible under a five-year agreement.
  Source: FTAI (22 July, 2026)

• Capstone Energy+ installs 2 MW CHP system at hospital

  Capstone Energy+ and BSD Builders have installed two C1000 Signature Series microturbines at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego. The 2 MW combined heat and power system is designed to improve the hospital’s energy resilience while supporting efficiency and sustainability goals.
  Source: Capstone Energy+ (27 July, 2026)

• BHEL wins largest gas turbine order in Nigeria

  India’s BHEL has secured its largest-ever single order for gas turbine generator packages, covering the supply and commissioning supervision of eight units for Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Nigeria. The equipment will be manufactured at BHEL facilities in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, further strengthening the company’s international presence in Africa.
  Source: BHEL (28 July, 2026)

• Dynamis orders 1.3 GW of Baker Hughes gas turbines

  Dynamis Power Solutions has ordered 76 Baker Hughes NovaLT16 gas turbines, paired with gearboxes and BRUSH generators, totaling approximately 1.3 GW. The turbines will be deployed in hypermobile power units for data centers and oil & gas applications, offering compact, rapidly deployable and flexible generation capacity.
  Source: Baker Hughes (29 July, 2026)

• Blue Energy and GE Vernova advance 2.5 GW Texas project

  Blue Energy and GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy have signed an agreement to advance engineering, licensing and safety work for a 2.5 GW gas-plus-nuclear power project in Victoria, Texas. The project will combine GE Vernova 7HA.02 gas turbines with up to five BWRX-300 small modular reactors to supply growing electricity demand, including from data centers.
  Source: GE Vernova (13 August, 2026)

• Eneva and GE Vernova launch operations at Azulão Power Plant to deploy firm power in complex transmission environments

  GE Vernova and Eneva have begun commercial operations at the 295 MW Azulão I thermal power plant in Brazil’s Amazonas state. Using GE Vernova’s 7HA.02 gas turbine, the plant will strengthen grid reliability and provide flexibility to support the growing share of wind and solar power in Brazil.
  Source: GE Vernova (19 August, 2026)

• Doosan Enerbility wins $930 billion contract for Oman power plant

  Doosan Enerbility has secured a KRW 930 billion contract to build the 1,700 MW Misfah combined cycle power plant in Oman. In consortium with SEPCO-3, Doosan will handle EPC work and supply the plant’s steam turbines and generators, with completion targeted for April 2029.
  Source: Doosan Enerbility (21 August, 2026)

• Hull Street Energy acquires 1,263 MW power portfolio

  Hull Street Energy has completed the acquisition of two power plants totaling 1,263 MW from Rockland Capital. The GridFlex Portfolio includes the 677 MW Lee County Generating Station in Illinois and the 586 MW Tait Electric Generating Station in Ohio, strengthening HSE’s presence in the PJM market and bringing its Milepost Power fleet to nearly 5,000 MW of generation capacity.
  Source: Hull Street Energy (26 August, 2026)

Gas Turbine Technology and Market Developments

• Germany launches first 4.5 GW backup capacity tender

  Germany’s Federal Network Agency has launched the first 4.5 GW tender under the country’s planned 11 GW backup capacity programme. Successful projects will receive 15-year contracts to provide dispatchable power and grid stability, with bids capped at €244,000 per MW annually. The next 4.5 GW auction is scheduled for December 2026.
  Source: Renewables Now (21 July, 2026)

• Ansaldo Energia’s GT36 fleet surpasses 80,000 operating hours

  Ansaldo Energia’s GT36 gas turbine fleet has exceeded 80,000 Equivalent Operating Hours (EOH), highlighting the technology’s growing operational track record. The milestone follows the successful completion of the fleet’s first B1 inspection at Edison’s Marghera Levante plant in Italy, further validating the GT36’s reliability, efficiency and operational flexibility.
  Source: Ansaldo Energia (23 July, 2026)

• Allied Power Group acquires TRS Services

  Allied Power Group has acquired Houston-based Turbine Repair & Support Services (TRS Services), expanding its gas turbine repair capabilities and technical expertise across Siemens, Alstom and GE platforms. The deal also strengthens APG’s repair capacity through TRS’s expanding 50,000-square-foot advanced repair center and adjacent facilities.
  Source: Allied Power Group (17 August, 2026)

• Equinor acquires major stake in Pennsylvania power plant

  Equinor has agreed to acquire an 87.71% stake in the 1,483 MW Lackawanna Energy Center in Pennsylvania for $940 million. The gas-fired combined-cycle plant strengthens Equinor’s position in the PJM power market, with growing demand from data centers and industry, while complementing its nearby Appalachian natural gas assets.
  Source: Equinor (17 August, 2026)

Gas Turbine Decarbonisation News

• Ansaldo Energia advances low-carbon fuel flexibility

  Ansaldo Energia has secured two independent validations for low-carbon fuel technologies. TÜV SÜD certified the GT36’s hydrogen readiness, supporting its pathway toward 100% hydrogen capability, while DNV validated the AE94.3A’s operation on HVO, demonstrating stable combustion across the operating range. The milestones strengthen Ansaldo Energia’s strategy to offer more flexible, lower-carbon solutions for both new and existing gas turbine assets.
  Source: Ansaldo Energia (1 September, 2026)

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Gas Turbine Related Events Happening in September