New GE test facility has approvals in hand

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

A new test facility at General Electric Global Research is expected to be complete by the middle of next year, after obtaining town approvals this month, officials said.

The more-than-11,000 square-foot facility received approvals earlier this month, contingent on a stormwater drainage issue being resolved, Planning Board Chairman Kevin Walsh said Tuesday. That stormwater issue was resolved and the Planning Board completed the process Monday evening, he said.

The new facility is to expand testing space for current employees. Staffing levels are to remain the same, officials said.

The spin test facility is to include lab space with a few offices, GE Global Research spokesman Todd Alhart said. The lab space is to allow researchers to test projects on a larger scale, integrating them into larger systems, he said. The projects are to include turbines, motors and other systems.

“This will give us a facility that will be an even better proving ground to test and evaluate new technologies,” he said.

Components by themselves, Alhart said, can behave differently than they do when integrated into larger systems. The building is to be built to blend in with other research facility buildings, he said. It will have minimal or no visibility from the main road.

Clearing and excavating is under way, Alhart said. The facility is expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2012. The company is still in the process of determining the final project cost.

The R&D facility currently employs about 2,000 people, he said.