Profit from GE’s renewables business was up 27% to $524m in the first nine months of 2017, compared with $413m in the same period last year.

Revenue in the sector rose 13% to more than $7.4bn, from over $6.5bn in 2016.

One of the reasons for the strong quarter was that the company booked an order for the 453MW Cooper’s Gap wind farm, the largest wind farm in Australia, GE said.

The company also recently introduced a new 4.8MW machine for the onshore market, its largest high-effiency turbine on the market.

Overall, GE revenue in the first three quarter of the year was on a par with 2016 at $90.7bn compared with $90.6bn last year.

However, net earnings were down 23% at just over $3.6bn in the nine months to 30 September, compared with almost $4.7bn in the same period in 2016.

Lighting, transportation, oil and gas and power businesses all reported lower profit than last year.

GE chairman and chief executive John Flannery called the power segment a particularly “difficult market”.

Image: GE