Here are some highlights from today’s announcement:

1. Cool Technology Combinations – One advantage GE enjoys is the breadth of its advanced tech offerings, which enables creative solutions using different products in tandem. For example, GE announced today it will support the Queensland Gas Company’s major Australian coal seam gas-to-LNG project with a mashup of Waukesha engine tech and Jenbacher Gas Engines that will together provide on-site power for another of GE’s offerings: advanced membrane and thermal water treatment tech (used to desalinate water produced during the extraction process). Similarly, in Italy, GE will combine Clean Cycle™ waste heat recovery tech and Jenbacher gas engines to help European power customers maximize output and minimize consumption of fuel, part of which is biogas from pig and cow manure, corn and other crops.

2. Brazil is Hot – More than a third of today’s announced total dollar amount comes from projects in emerging powerhouse Brazil. GE won 40 percent of the total amount of energy auctioned by the country’s National Electric Power Agency: 378 megawatts (MW) of wind power to be generated by GE’s 1.6 wind turbine tech and one whole gigawatt of natural gas power generation using its 7FA gas turbine combined-cycle tech. GE was also awarded a major subsea and surface contract for drilling and production equipment by OGX.

3. Making a Move in LNG – GE will supply steam turbines and compressors for the world’s largest Floating Liquefied Natural Gas platform, the Shell Prelude project, which is located 200 km off Western Australia’s Kimberly Coast. Including this new project, GE has won a total of $1 billion in global LNG contracts.

4. Wind at its Back – GE’s 1.6-100 wind turbine will be flying off the shelves. Today the company announced it has earned more than $1.5 billion in new commitments for 750 turbines for wind farms in North and South America over the next two years, bringing total orders for the 1.6-100 to nearly 2 gigawatts and $2.7 billion.

5. Helping Power Egypt – GE will supply six advanced F-technology gas turbines and related services for two new combined-cycle power plants near Cairo that will add ten percent of capacity to Egypt’s power grid, helping support the country’s rapidly growing energy needs. At $300 million, it’s the largest power generation order ever between Egypt and GE.

Those five highlights are just some of the major customer agreements announced today, which also include: enhanced oil recovery operations and tech and service support to an independent power producer in Iraq; GE Energy’s first foray into providing manufacturing solutions to drive energy efficiency and water savings in the food and beverage sector, with Anheuser-Busch InBev facilities in China; the largest smart grid project in Latin America, with Electrica de Guayaquil in Ecuador; and water treatment and recycling using GE’s patented evaporative tech, with Grizzly Oil Sands ULC’s Algar Lake project in Canada.

A worker inspects an aircraft engine at GE’s Celma plant in Petropolis, Brazil.

With the World Economic Forum on Latin America 2011 in Rio in full swing, GE Reports took a closer look at how innovation is working on the ground in Brazil. GE’s Celma facility, located in Petrópolis, Brazil (a small town near Rio de Janeiro) provides engine services to aircraft customers in Latin America, the U.S., and Europe. But the plant has also been hosting a quiet revolution in innovative management and leadership. Here are the three ways they’re accomplishing this goal.

1. Practicing Kaizen
   The word “kaizen” is Japanese for “improvement” or “change for the better.” It refers to the practice of seeking continuous ways to improve processes in manufacturing, engineering, business, and management. Here’s how it works in practice: All Celma employees, be they engineers or mechanics or supervisors, are encouraged to generate ideas on how to make their jobs faster and more efficient. An employee with one such idea can bring it to a designated person – there’s one in every production area. A committee evaluates the idea, and if it can be implemented, and does indeed lower costs, increase efficiency, and/or improve quality, the idea will be adopted. And employees who present successful kaizens are given a financial reward, just as a little extra incentive. Just how revolutionary has the kaizen system been? In 2010, 936 kaizens were implemented by 1100 employees, resulting in a total of 21,000 hours and $597,000 saved.
2. Mentoring
   Celma’s mentoring program was launched several years ago, when the center started growing rapidly. Today, 60 percent of the Celma workforce is involved in the program – more than 600 employees total. Nearly every new hire is matched with a seasoned veteran, who mentors the newbie for months to train and form him or her inside the company. The result is a powerful workforce of mechanics, engineers, and inspectors that have access to a pipeline of information and assistance. The key, according to CF6 CSA Six Sigma Black Belt & Team Coordinator Jose Luiz da Silva, is treating every new hire as a potential asset to the company – a goal that good mentoring achieves.
3. The Repair Technology Center of Excellence
   Celma’s Repair Technology Center of Excellence (RTCOE) was the first of its kind outside the U.S. Launched in 1999, it now has 21 repair engineers writing repair procedures for equipment like engine parts – and these documents are later used in engine manuals used around the world. But true innovation comes in the handling of technical questions: Customers can visit GE’s customer website to submit their queries, which are directed straight to the repair engineers best prepared to answer them. The queries go through the RTCOE in Cincinnati, which directs them to experts at Celma. The process means that customer needs are met faster and in the greatest detail, with little cost to both sides. It’s the ultimate win-win.

For more, watch João Geraldo Ferreira, President and CEO of GE in Brazil, discuss innovation during the WEF on Latin America 2011 in the video below:

 Brazil and GE are far from strangers: the company opened its first Brazil plant around 90 years ago. Since then, GE has focused on growing its business – and its expansion will culminate in a new Global Research Center, set to open in 2013 in Rio De Janeiro. GE Reports spoke with João Geraldo Ferreira, President and CEO of GE in Brazil, about the new GRC, the practice of “reverse innovation,” and Brazil’s unique place on the economic stage.

GE Reports: What’s your vision for the new Rio Center? What will be its central focus?

João Geraldo Ferreira: The Center in Brazil will have very specific characteristics that differ from other global research centers. GE in Brazil has partnered with key customers including Petrobras, Vale, MRS Logística, Federal University in Rio, and local governments to research and develop products and solutions that will fill specific bottlenecks in Brazil’s infrastructure, enabling the country to sustain its prosperous economy by attending its infrastructure needs. One good example is the oil found at the pre-salt layer in the Atlantic Coast – GE wants to help companies like Petrobras and EBX Group, as well as the Brazilian Government, to maximize the oil exploration and production processes.

 The Center will help us position ourselves as an innovative company working to meet Brazil’s unique infrastructure needs, and helping the country be an important economic figure at the global level. Here in Brazil, we practice what we call “reverse innovation “– we research and develop high-level technology for specific Brazilian needs, and then export what we developed to other countries. To this end, we have developed, in partnership with Petrobras, the first global flex fuel engine that generates electricity from sugarcane-based ethanol. This is the first engine of its kind, produced in Brazil with the potential to reach the rest of the world.

The new 140,000 square foot GRC on the Ilha do Bom Jesus peninsula will house 400 technologists and includes a Learning Center and lab building with 20 labs.

GER: Are there specific research areas that the Rio GRC will target?

JGF: Yes: oil & gas, renewable energy, transportation, biofuels, aviation, healthcare — all key areas that GE is involved with in Brazil. The demand will come from the country´s needs for high technology and innovative products and solutions.

GER: How will the Rio GRC integrate with existing GE operations in Latin America? What about GE operations globally?

JGF: GE in Brazil has already signed nine Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) since the Global Research Center was announced– with key customers, government bodies, and universities – focused on integrating our existing operations to meet our clients’ and partners’ needs. The GRC will serve Latin America and other global GE operations once we’re prepared to develop innovation locally and integrate it with our worldwide operations. For example, Brazil has a very mature use of biofuels, which can be exported to our transportation or aviation operations around the world.

GER: What, if any, coordination or collaboration with local governments and other groups will be required to make the new NCR successful?

JGF: Collaboration with local governments, universities, other research institutions, and third parties are extremely important to our goal of fulfilling local infrastructure needs. We need to partner with and hear from these very important stakeholders, and learn what their needs are, to fully understand them and then deliver the best-in-class technology.

GER: Let’s discuss the Brazilian market itself. Why is it so important for GE to expand in Brazil? Why now?

JGF: GE is having its most prosperous moment in Brazil since the company installed its first plant here, more than 90 years ago. Our operations in Brazil increase every year, and Brazil presents several mature infrastructure opportunities for the company.

If you look at Brazil and pay attention to the needs that must be fulfilled to enable sustainable growth here, you’ll see that those needs match perfectly with GE’s portfolio. It means we have an amazing opportunity to develop our operations here in Brazil, and practice reverse innovation locally.

GER: Are there specific factors that put Brazil in a unique position to enable the expansion of GE’s business in Latin America?

JGF: Brazil is in a unique position for GE for several reasons: 1) the stability of its economy; 2) the maturity of GE’s operations there – currently the most important in revenues among all other operations in Latin America; and 3) Brazil’s position on the world stage. Brazil will host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games – worldwide events that create many infrastructure opportunities, which will allow GE to invest more in local R&D. We want to help this country host the greenest mega-events in the world, and we have the expertise to do it. Also, Brazil is the only BRICS country in Latin America, which says a lot about why Brazil is so important for us.

This year’s WEF will be held in Rio De Janeiro, which is apt — after all, Brazil is the undisputed financial powerhouse of the continent, with a gross domestic product of $2.1 trillion. The country has continued to thrive during the recession; in 2010, Brazil’s economy grew 7.5 percent, and is expected to grow at 4 percent this year. The poverty rate has plunged from 20 percent in 2004 to just seven percent in 2009.

This year, business and government leaders will gather to discuss new opportunities for entrepreneurial and technological innovation: expanding trade and transportation infrastructure; promoting environmental sustainability; improving security and addressing crime; and leveraging South America’s unique resources in food, oxygen, and energy. GE has considerable interests in the continent’s development, and the leaders of GE’s Brazil, Latin America health care, and Latin America energy divisions will be attending the conference to look for new opportunities and areas for further growth.

Tomorrow, GE representatives will present a specific edition of their recent Innovation Barometer, which was first presented at Davos this January; GE surveyed one thousand senior business executives around the world, asking them about the opportunities and roadblocks to innovation and economic growth in their particular countries.

Almost all of the respondents answered that the best innovation didn’t just make money – it also addressed key needs of people in each region. For tomorrow’s presentation, GE researchers surveyed 100 Brazilian executives about their specific needs, opportunities, and barriers to growth, and will present the results.

In addition, Reinaldo Garcia, president and CEO of GE Latin America, will sit on a panel on insuring that economic growth includes people from all segments of society, as well as the economic and social barriers to inclusive growth. Other panel participants include Brazilian Development Bank President Luciano Coutinho and Jorge Luiz Numa Abrahão, the president of the Ethos Institute for Business and Social Responsibility.

GE’s “Tunnel of Innovation” display at the Carioca Night gala to be held this Thursday, April 28.

Check out GE’s data visualization of the Innovation Barometer, breaking down innovation levels and executive perceptions of innovation in various countries.

GE Energy is part of that next phase of rapid expansion, having announced today that it just won an additional 400 megawatts of new wind turbine deals — which translates into 258 more wind turbines being supplied to four of the country’s top producers. It follows Brazil’s decision last year to commit to 400 MW of wind energy using GE’s technology — which marked the debut of the ecomagination turbines in the country.

Blowing into town: GE will supply, erect and commission the wind turbines, as well as service them for at least two years. The wind farms will use GE’s 1.6-megawatt and 1.5-megawatt series turbines. The 1.5 MW model is the most widely deployed wind turbine in the world.

As the Global Wind Energy Council notes, “with most remaining larger hydro resources [in Brazil] located in the Amazon region and growing awareness of the need to preserve forests and mitigate climate change, the addition of new large hydro and thermal plants is problematic.” As a result, there’s a growing interest in the country to make wind the next anchor of its renewable energy policy.

To speed up development, Brazil has started holding auctions in which energy developers bid for the right to build wind farms. Today’s deal is a result of the latest round of auctions.

IHS Emerging Energy Research says Brazil is at a “tipping point” in wind energy as it moves from “sporadic projects” to steady wind power market growth. It’s partly because of Brazil’s market scale, the researchers say — and because of “proactive renewable energy policies.” The research firm says that “total investment in Latin America wind turbine markets will scale from just under U.S.$1 billion in 2009 to more than U.S.$2.2 billion by 2015,” with Brazil leading the charge.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek points out that Brazil is aided by the easterly breezes in northern Brazil, which the American Meteorological Society says produces the most consistent weather patterns in the world. “Wind conditions are amazing in Brazil, far better than what is available in the U.S. and Europe,” Unai Otazua Aranguren, head of the engineering group at GL Garrad Hassan, a renewable energy consulting firm in the U.K., told the magazine.

Back in the lab: GE recently announced plans to invest $500 million to expand its operations in Brazil, including $200 million for new wind turbine and aeroderivative product development and increased capacity for GE’s Oil & Gas business. As part of the expansion, GE is establishing its newest Global Research center in Rio de Janeiro, which is seen above. Work at the center will focus on advanced technologies for the renewable energy, oil and gas, mining, rail and aviation industries.

* See a wind map of Brazil
* Read today’s announcement
* Learn how 400MW of wind power can produce 900 espressos per Brazilian

* Read “Five Reasons Brazil is Set to Become a Major World Power”

• $2,000,000,000: The investment being made in new smart grid and rail joint ventures and R&D centers in China;
• $500,000,000: The investment being made in a new R&D center, plant expansions, and tech partnerships in Brazil;
• $1,400,000,000: The deals signed with India for jet fighter engines and power-generating turbines highlighted during President Obama’s visit to the country;
• 7,000: The number of U.S. jobs that the White House estimates will be supported by the India deals for U.S.-made engines and turbines;
• 25,000: The number of electric vehicles GE is buying for its fleet, and for GE’s fleet customers around the world;
• $500,000,000: Estimates of what a global EV transformation will lead to in near-term business for GE;
• 3,000,000: The number of EV charging stations expected to be deployed around the world by 2015, up from 20,000 in 2010.
• 60%: What GE is aiming to make it non-U.S. revenue, up from 54% today. It’s part of a plan to double GE’s exports that kicked-off with a reorganization of international teams this week.

The flurry of international deals and partnerships come as GE’s global growth has expanded by about 15 percent a year for most of the past decade. As GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said about the global focus this week during his India and China visits: “We are entering a period of great opportunity in global markets and …we are raising the stature of everything global in GE.” He noted that GE sold more than $18 billion worth of U.S.-made goods and services outside of the country in 2009, up from $7 billion in 2001.

Jobs here and there: GE’s locomotive plant in Brazil, seen above, provides an example of how the global push can translate into growth in hot markets such as Brazil, and jobs in the U.S. In the deal just made to supply rail operator MRS with 115 locomotives — the largest order in Brazil’s history — the locomotives themselves will be manufactured in GE’s plant in Contagem, Brazil, while the12-cylinder engines and key components will be made in GE’s Grove City, Pennsylvania plant.

India will be back in the spotlight this Sunday as the World Economic Forum in India kicks off. Read an op-ed by John Flannery, president and CEO of GE’s business operations in India, published today in India’s Financial Express.

Brazil is the 9th largest economy in the world and is expected to reach the 8th position by 2012. Brazil’s economy is set to expand 7.5 percent in 2010 alone, up from a previous forecast of 7 percent. Finance Minister Guido Mantega recently told Bloomberg News: “Brazil is enjoying high quality, sustainable growth, because it doesn’t generate macroeconomic imbalances. Investment today is growing almost three times faster than the economy and we’re increasing productivity.”1. ECONOMIC EXPANSION:

Brazil is the 9th largest economy in the world and is expected to reach the 8th position by 2012. Brazil’s economy is set to expand 7.5 percent in 2010 alone, up from a previous forecast of 7 percent. Finance Minister Guido Mantega recently told Bloomberg News: “Brazil is enjoying high quality, sustainable growth, because it doesn’t generate macroeconomic imbalances. Investment today is growing almost three times faster than the economy and we’re increasing productivity.”

2. ENERGY:

Brazil has long been a leader in renewable energy — already 46 percent of the resources it uses are renewable, compared to the 12 percent global average. At the 2009 United Nations Conference on Climate Change, Brazil made a major commitment to be a leader in renewable energy production and carbon reduction. Initial construction on the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, which will be the third largest in the world, is slated to begin by next year.

Globally, Brazil has the largest available land area to be tilled for sugar — the key component of ethanol. It has the capacity to distill approximately 22 billion liters of ethanol per year. And the current Brazilian energy plan also proposes a four-fold increase in wind power over the next 10 years.

3. RAIL:

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says a new high speed rail link between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo (Brazil’s 2 biggest cities) should be ready in time for the 2016 Olympics.

This week, Brazil’s national development bank offered to lend up to 19.98 billion reais ($11.8 billion) for the project. The bank said that the train will transport 32 million passengers a year and generate revenues of up to 2 billion reais a year.

4. HEALTH CARE:

Brazil’s universal healthcare system, particularly its public option, have been receiving greater scrutiny of late, as the U.S. experiments with a similar system. A new analysis from Frost & Sullivan, titled “Brazil Healthcare Outlook: Analysis of Best Opportunities,” finds the Brazil healthcare market earned revenues of $22.1 billion in 2009 and estimates this will reach $129.9 billion in 2012, which represents a 35% growth in 3 years, 4.1% above global market growth. (GE just opened it’s first healthcare plant in South America in the Brazilian city of Contagem.)

5. INFRASTRUCTURE/AVIATION:

Brazil is hosting two of the world’s largest sporting events over the next six years — the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. As such, air traffic into the country is expected to increase, and cities are beefing up their airports and infrastructure. Nearly $3 billion will be invested to renovate and expand airports, and billions more will be invested in new and expanded infrastructure.

In addition, Azul, the new low-cost carrier that David Neeleman, founder and former-CEO of JetBlue just launched last year in Brazil, has signed a 15-year, $1 billion deal with GE Aviation to service the engines on its fleet of regional planes.

* Read “In Good R&D Company: Brazil joins U.S., China, India and Germany” on GE Reports
* Read “Brazil’s Rail Industry: From A Near Derailment to Full Throttle” on GE Reports
* Read more Brazil stories on GE Reports

The announcement today in Brazil was part of a sweeping, $500 million investment that includes expanding GE’s oil & gas, wind turbine, healthcare, aviation and locomotive businesses and plants in the country.

* Read today’s announcement

First look: The new Brazil Global Research Center will be located on the Ilha do Bom Jesus peninsula. When complete in 2012, it will employ 200 researchers and engineers. GE today also signed eight agreements with partners, universities and corporations from across Brazil to develop research collaborations.

Learning hub: The 140,000 square foot Center will include a GE Global Learning facility, where GE employees from Latin America will join senior leaders from industry, academia and government to learn and share best practices.

The $500 million commitment follows yesterday’s announcement of a $2 billion investment in China, which will include an expanded R&D presence. On Monday, GE unveiled a new global growth plan designed to decentralize international teams and accelerate growth in key markets such as Brazil and China. A key goal is double U.S. exports as part of the strategy.

For Brazil, which already has a “company to country” relationship with GE, the closer ties with GE follows the recent opening of GE’s first healthcare factory in South America in Contagem, Brazil; the largest locomotive order in Brazil’s history; a $1 billion aviation deal with Azul airlines; and oil and gas deals, such as the $250 million offshore equipment contract recently signed with Petrobras.

High flying: As part of the new investments in Brazil, $200 million will go to expanding GE’s existing healthcare, transportation and aviation plants. GE’s jet engine service facility in Petrópolis is seen above.

* Read “Brazil’s Rail Industry: From Near Derailment to Full Throttle” on GE Reports
* Read “5 Reasons Brazil is Becoming a Major World Power” on GE Reports

Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
* “Boosting GE’s ‘company to country’ approach in Brazil”
* “Taking a look at GE in Brazil during WEF Latin America”
* “Keeping growth on the fast track: WEF Latin America”
* “Switching smart grids from ‘demo’ to ‘deploy’ at WEF”
* “Brazil’s turbines sweetly hum with sugar-based ethanol”
* “The sugar-land express: Brazil orders 50 locomotives”
* “Brazil’s new Azul airline inks $1B services deal with GE”
* “GE wins $250 million offshore drilling contract in Brazil”
* “Brazil boosts clean gas in the Amazon; wind in the East”

As Brazilian magazine Isto É Dinheiro observed recently, major deals like this are a far cry from the state of affairs that existed before Brazil’s rail industry was privatized in the late 1990s. The industry itself was in decay and GE’s now busy plant, which opened in 1967, “almost passed away…. With no orders for new machines in Brazil or from any other country in the region, the Company survived just refurbishing and overhauling locomotives for its customers.”

Rail and logistics expert Paulo Fleury explained in the story that railroads under the old state monopoly did not buy any new locomotives for decades. When they were finally privatized, the new companies thought it would be a waste to use new, high-tech machines on outdated infrastructure. That also translated into low freight speeds, with Brazil’s trains running at about 20 km/h compared to 40 km/h in the U.S.

“However, this has changed,” the magazine optimistically reports. Speeds are up, and plans to build new rails call for the current Brazilian rail network of 28,476 km to nearly double by 2023. It’s part of Brazil’s move to increase it’s use of freight rail, which now accounts for about 25 percent of freight traffic. (By comparison, China’s rails carry about 37 percent of the country’s freight and U.S. rails carry 43 percent.)

In the giant MRS deal, the locomotives themselves will be manufactured in GE’s plant in Contagem, Brazil,while the12-cylinder engines and key components will be made in GE’s Grove City, Pennsylvania plant — typefying the way in which global growth is creating manufacturing jobs in the U.S. as well as local markets.

On track: Fast-forward to new deals such as the September’s order from MRS, as well as recent locomotive deals with Cosan and the government of Nigeria, and GE’s Brazil plant is a hub of activity.

* Read “In Good R&D Company: Brazil Joins U.S., India, China & Germany” on GE Reports
* Read “Five Reasons Brazil Is Set to Become a Major World Power” on GE Reports
* Read more Brazil stories on GE Reports

GE’s on the list — and so is battery-maker A123 Systems (GE’s an investor and partner); solar tech company SunPower Corp. (GE’s an investor in several of SunPower’s California solar power projects); and Brazilian ethanol-giant Cosan (a GE customer).

Sweet smell of success: Brazil’s Cosan “controls the distribution and retail sale of cane ethanol in a country where about 77% of the nation’s fleet are flex-fuel capable,” the story reports. Photo: Bloomberg/Getty Images.

As the editors note, “Rather than trying to pick winners and losers — which at this point is probably impossible — we’ve tried instead to identify the 25 companies we think will shape the alt energy industry for the next three to five years.”

They described A123 as being well positioned because “the market for lithium-ion batteries for electric cars is expected to grow from about $1 billion in 2011 to nearly $25 billion in 2015. That is not a misprint. A123 has a contract to supply vehicle batteries to China’s largest carmaker, SAIC Motors.”

For SunPower, they note that it “currently boasts the highest conversion rate of sunlight to electricity of all the solar PV makers.”

As for Cosan Ltd, they’re called out for their biofuels potential as “Brazil’s largest producer of sugar cane-derived ethanol.” GE’s locomotives are bringing that ethanol to market for Cosan — while companies such as Brazil’s Petrobras are now using GE’s engines to turn the sugar-based ethanol into electricity.

* Read The Huffington Post story
* Read the full story on 24/7 Wall Street