GE energy infrastructure gets orders worth as much as $3 billion

General Electric Co., the world's biggest provider of power-generation equipment and services, said it won contracts from Brazil, Egypt, Australia and other countries valued at as much as $3 billion.

The projects include $1 billion from Brazil for wind and gas turbines and subsea oil-and gas-exploration equipment, as well as $1.5 billion for the 1.6 megawatt wind turbine, which the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company touts as the world's most efficient, according to a statement today.

John Krenicki, GE vice chairman who is president and chief executive officer of GE Energy Infrastructure, leads an investor meeting today to outline growth prospects. The company said in July it expected total shipments to rise in the second half for turbines. The division has more than doubled its investment in research to about 5 percent of sales, Krenicki said in an interview in August, to add new products.

GE Energy is also integrating about $12 billion in acquisitions as it builds its oil- and gas-exploration equipment division and increases its products for electricity grids. Other countries named in the statement include Egypt, Australia, Ecuador, Italy, Indonesia and Canada.

GE Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt is working to boost GE's share of profit from industrial operations and shrink the percentage contribution from the finance division in part because investors value manufacturing companies more highly than finance.

In the second quarter, profit in the energy infrastructure segment slid 19 percent to $1.55 billion amid lower prices for wind and gas turbines, even as sales and orders increased.