An Upstate technology company has partnered with GE Vernova to supply energy on a global scale.
Sealevel Systems Inc. started production in late summer of a new controller unit for GE Vernova wind and gas turbines, which supply energy to one-third of the world.
The two companies came together on Oct. 3 to celebrate start of manufacturing at Sealevel’s Pickens County facility on Greenville Highway, just east of Liberty. Sealevel has already manufactured more than 6,000 systems since August. Within its 52,000-square-foot facility are several machines capable of producing one controller per minute.
GE has a facility in Greenville County on Garlington Road that manufactures gas turbines.
Sealevel President and Co-founder Susan O’Hanlan said the project was more than two years in the making, and that the long-term partnership will provide controllers on an ongoing basis. GE Vernova operates about 54,000 wind turbines and 7,000 gas turbines worldwide, according to its website.
“About 2 1/2 years ago, we were approached by GE about building this unit that’s going to help power the gas turbines and the wind turbines all over the world,” O’Hanlan said. “It took a long time for us to get through all of the initial statement of work, the project forecast, and knowing what it was we were supposed to be developing.”
Sealevel has completed other projects similar to GE’s but O’Hanlan said this was among the largest.
“The sheer volume of this [program] and the growth of this required us to do a lot of things toward cybersecurity and parts traceability,” O’Hanlan said. “If you think about GE’s units, you wouldn’t want a grid to go down because something doesn’t work. And that’s what we’re building. We’re building something that needs to keep going and needs to be secure.”
Sealevel recognized each contributing team member during the celebration, a team that has grown since the project began.
“The statistic that has nothing to do with dollars or cents is actually what I’m the most proud of, and that’s the people you see here today,” COO/CFO Brandon Hansen said. “Since the start of the GE project we’ve added 22 people, which is a 30% increase in our workforce.”
Background, values
O’Hanlan and her husband, Tom O’Hanlan, founded Sealevel in 1986 in their basement. It began as a family business and has grown exponentially.
Sealevel is dedicated to American-made production and creation, which was important to GE and part of what drove the partnership.
“That’s been important to all of us, plus having everything here in this facility lets us control our quality, and lets us know what’s going on,” O’Hanlan said. “I say this, and I really mean it: There’s not one person in this building that I would want to do without.”
