Industry leaders cite 5–7-year delays, material shortages and rising power demand
Stakeholders from industry, government and academia convened at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on March 31–April 1 for the “Innovating the Gas Turbine Supply Chain Workshop.” The event addressed growing supply constraints as delivery timelines for critical turbines have stretched to five to seven years in some cases. Amid surging electricity demand driven by data centers, industrial growth and a large backlog of turbines for commercial aviation, attendees identified key bottlenecks and strategies to expand gas turbine manufacturing capacity.
A gas turbine is an engine that burns fuel to produce high-speed gas that spins turbine blades, generating mechanical energy used for electricity generation, aviation and industrial applications. Unprecedented demand has driven turbine orders far beyond manufacturing capacity, creating a systemwide backlog and extending delivery timelines.
Experts described the situation as a “perfect storm,” where surging demand coincides with constraints in manufacturing, materials and labor, creating bottlenecks across the power generation ecosystem. Compounding these challenges, gas turbines are not mass-produced as they require high-temperature alloys and precision machining and testing.
“The challenges facing the gas turbine supply chain are complex and interconnected — and addressing them will require coordinated action to expand manufacturing capacity across the entire sector,” said Robert Wagner, associate laboratory director at ORNL.
Participants identified several critical, interrelated challenges:
- Supply chain constraints: limited supplier capacity, long lead times and rising costs
- Critical materials dependence: reliance on nickel-based superalloys, cobalt and rare earth elements, such as yttrium
- Workforce shortages: gaps in skilled labor and digital expertise
- Manufacturing limitations: slow casting and forging processes and barriers to scaling additive manufacturing
- Aging infrastructure: turbines operating beyond design life requiring repair and refurbishment
Speakers also pointed to significant logistical and financial pressures. Turbines can weigh hundreds of tons, requiring specialized transport and complex installation sequencing. At the same time, supply chain disruptions are driving up costs with multi-million-dollar deposits often required to secure delivery slots.
“Supply chain disruptions are already affecting the entire power sector,” said Edgar Lara-Curzio, director of ORNL energy resources and infrastructure programs and the workshop’s organizer. “Turbine shortages can delay new generation projects and force data centers and other users to rely on temporary, on-site solutions to meet immediate needs.”
Workshop participants also identified priority actions:
- Expanding supplier capacity
- Increasing adoption of additive manufacturing for components and repair
- Advancing materials and coatings for durability and performance
- Leveraging digital tools such as predictive maintenance and digital twins
- Strengthening workforce development and training
- Expanding repair, refurbishment and lifecycle management strategies
The Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, where this workshop was held, is supported by DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office and acts as a nationwide consortium of collaborators focused on innovating, inspiring and catalyzing the transformation of U.S. manufacturing.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
