BANGOR – GE Power Systems, citing a major nationwide decline in the construction of new power plants, will eliminate at least 45 positions during the next nine months in one of two divisions at its newly expanded facility near Bangor International Airport.

But unprecedented growth in power plant construction during the last four years may eventually bring gains to the Bangor facility. Those new power plants will go through routine maintenance and need new or refurbished parts, and the second of the two divisions in Bangor does that kind of work.

The job cuts, which the company hopes will occur through attrition and early retirements, are part of a nationwide reduction of 2,500 jobs. And this may not be the last of the cuts. According to a statement released by GE Power Systems on Tuesday, the company expects further cuts throughout its operations in late 2003 because of a reduction in the demand for power generation equipment.

The Atlanta-based GE Power Systems employs more than 600 people in Bangor, an increase of about 150 high-paying, technical jobs in the last two years, and recently wrapped up a $78 million expansion of its local facilities. Most of those new jobs started at an hourly rate of $17 with benefits.

The Maine Department of Labor’s rapid response team is working with GE Power Systems officials to set up meetings so that displaced workers can learn about unemployment benefits, said coordinator Ron Brodeur.

Tuesday’s announcement, although expected by the staff because of national economic conditions, negatively affects one segment of Bangor’s entire operation while promising growth for the other.

The energy products division produces turbine components for new power plants and the energy services division refurbishes and builds components for existing generators, said local spokesman Andy Cox. Because of an increase in the number of plants that have gone online in recent years, the company anticipates growth in its energy services division.

“Services is the growth area,” Cox said.

Bangor City Manager Ed Barrett said that although the loss of 45 good-paying jobs is significant, he believes that GE Power Systems’ newly expanded facility is poised for growth.

“We’re confident that General Electric will remain a strong part of the economy here given its recent expansion,” Barrett said.

Nationwide, GE Power Systems’ employment reductions will occur primarily in the turbine production facilities of its energy products or new construction business. In the next two years, the volume of U.S. orders and shipments of gas turbines is forecast to decline by 80 percent or more, according to a statement released by GE Power Systems.

“We have always made it clear that, after several years of exceptional growth, our turbine business would at some point return to more normal order levels, and it is,” said John Rice, president and chief executive officer of GE Power Systems, in a statement.

“At the same time, we are preparing for excellent opportunities for growth in our oil and gas and energy services businesses,” he said. “Energy services, for example, will benefit from the near doubling of the installed base of GE heavy-duty gas turbines over the past four years.”

Most of GE Power Systems’ job cuts will be in Greenville, S.C., and Schenectady, N.Y., with each facility losing 1,000 positions. The company also plans to move generator manufacturing operations from Pensacola, Fla., to Schenectady, and to begin producing wind turbine blades in Pensacola.

“I’d like to turn around and scream, ‘It’s GE’s fault.’ But we can’t say that today,” said Carmen DePoalo with Local 301 of the International Union of Electrical Radio and Machine Workers in Schenectady. “We’re caught in the humbug of everything happening in the economic world. If you don’t have the work, you can’t keep employees just to keep them here.

“It’s not a big surprise,” DePoalo added. “We pick up the papers every day and see that industry in the United States is taking a bang right now, and most of our work is domestic.”

GE Power Systems employs 36,500 people worldwide, and is one of the largest suppliers of power generation technology, energy services and management systems. In 2001, revenues exceeded $20 billion. In the second quarter of this year, the division of General Electric Co. generated $1.91 billion in profit, up 66 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.