General Electric Co. is considering whether to build — possibly in southwest Ohio — a $50 million center that would allow engineers to collaborate in one location to develop, test and certify electrical power systems for aircraft, to serve what GE management says is becoming an “exponential” increase in demand for those systems.

Bill Chadwick, an executive with the Aerospace Industries Association, a trade group, agreed that there likely is to be strong demand over the next several decades, after the aerospace industry gets through its current slump that is a result of the recession. Demand is increasing for all forms of electronic equipment for powering and flying airplanes, he said.

“Over time, absolutely, these things will become much more critical,” Chadwick said.

GE Aviation’s management expects to decide in March 2010 whether to build a center that would expand the company’s ability to supply electric power systems for the nation’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and civilian aircraft including the Boeing 737 and Airbus 30X.

Vic Bonneau, president of GE’s Electrical Power Systems business in Vandalia, made a presentation in mid-December to an internal GE panel assessing whether to go ahead with the project.

If GE’s leadership gives the go-ahead, the company is leaning toward locating the center at either its Vandalia operation or the GE Aircraft Engines plant in the Cincinnati suburb of Evendale, in order to provide easy access to engineers at those locations, Bonneau said.

GE has told the Ohio Department of Development that it is also considering sites at GE operations in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Erlanger, Ky., and Cheltenham, England.

Ohio’s Third Frontier program, which supports technology development in the state, has offered GE $7.6 million if it will locate the Electrical Power Integrated Systems Center within Ohio.

“The significance of the grant amount really helps us,” Bonneau told Eric Fingerhut, chairman of the Ohio Third Frontier Commission, during a Dec. 18 meeting at the University of Dayton. “This is a big deal for us, and we know it’s a big deal for the state of Ohio.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.