The turbines will be part of a 2,400-megawatt expansion of an existing power plant in the Samalkot region of India. Reliance is expanding the plant to take advantage of a large recent natural gas find in India's Krishan Godavari basin.
GE expects to ship the turbines in the second half of 2011 to meet Reliance's deadline of beginning operations at the expanded plant by March 2012, said Paul Browning, a GE vice president.
GE expects demand for electricity, and thus turbines, to rise in India as the fast-growing economy exploits the new gas find, Browning said.
"The fundamental thing that drives the need for more energy is GDP growth, and certainly India has had no shortage of GDP growth over the past decade or more. What they have been short on was gas. What has been the game-changer on this has been the big gas finds," Browning said. "We are expecting that there is going to be more opportunity."
GE, the world's largest maker of electric turbines, said it will supply six gas turbines to the project. The $750 million contract value includes a 15-year service contract, GE said.
Separately, GE said its Energy Financial Services arm will begin writing loans for development drilling in the oil and gas sector.
Chief Executive Jeff Immelt is in the midst of streamlining GE to focus back on its industrial roots. In addition to selling a majority stake in the company's NBC Universal media business to Comcast Corp and cutting back its GE Capital Finance arm, Immelt has been expanding GE's reach in the energy industry.
As part of that effort, GE early in the month agreed to pay $3 billion to buy Dresser Inc, a maker of engines used in oil and gas production.
