Alstom Reinforces Leadership in Hydro Power with New Global Technology Centre

SOREL-TRACY, Quebec--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alstom inaugurated today the company’s newest Global Technology Centre (GTC), in the Canadian town of Sorel-Tracy, focused on sustainable hydroelectric power. Housed within Alstom’s existing North American hydro headquarters, manufacturing and engineering facility, this GTC will serve as the company’s global hub for innovation in hydro retrofit processes and technology. Retrofits enable hydro operators to extend the lifecycle of existing plants and increase electricity output by updating equipment and maximizing efficiency.

“These plants are a source of clean, reliable energy, but many need to be retrofitted and are opportunities for increases in efficiency/capacity. This new GTC is here to ensure those plants continue operating smoothly while making the largest possible contribution to a balanced portfolio of low and no-carbon energy sources.”

Commenting on the inauguration, Jérôme Pécresse, Alstom Executive Vice President and President of the company’s Renewable Power Sector, said, “The dedication of Alstom’s newest hydro GTC builds on Canada’s long history in hydro power, which dates back more than a century, and its broader influence on the global commitment to hydro generation. Over the years, skilled engineers here have pioneered ways to increase the efficiency and power of earth’s most reliable and abundant renewable energy resource. This GTC will carry on that tradition of innovation and bring Alstom customers new opportunities to preserve and expand hydro’s role in a cleaner energy future.”

The Sorel-Tracy GTC houses a team of Alstom research experts and engineers working with industry and academic partners to study improvements in retrofit techniques that can significantly improve plant performance, availability and reliability without increasing overall plant size or environmental impact. During a retrofit, existing turbines, generators and other essential equipment are removed from a hydro plant. They are then renewed to boost efficiency or replaced with new designs resulting in an overall increase in electricity output. With the launch of Quebec’s “Plan Nord”, Alstom’s expertise will be most appropriate to respond to retrofit projects, but also to new hydroelectric projects that are part of this plan.

“Many Alstom customers in North America and Europe own hydro facilities that have been operating continuously for 30 years or more, such as some of those in the territory of James Bay,” said Maryse François-Xausa, Alstom’s Vice President for Global Hydro R&D and Product Management. “These plants are a source of clean, reliable energy, but many need to be retrofitted and are opportunities for increases in efficiency/capacity. This new GTC is here to ensure those plants continue operating smoothly while making the largest possible contribution to a balanced portfolio of low and no-carbon energy sources.”

The formal inauguration ceremony was followed by a tour of the GTC where local and provincially elected officials, Alstom customers, academic partners such as École de technologie supérieure, Institut de recherche d’Hydro-Québec, Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Centre of the NRC Institute for Aerospace Research and École Polytechnique, and members of the community, were shown how staff will use state-of-the-art technology to model and test new retrofit processes. The program also included visits to Alstom’s mechanical and electrical fabrication facilities where visitors saw how the innovative solutions developed in the GTC are then applied to manufacturing processes to meet customers’ particular demands and changing operating conditions.

Alstom turbines, generators and equipment account for approximately 25% of worldwide hydropower generation. The company’s network of hydro Global Technology Centres was created to capitalize on areas of specific regional expertise and leverage that knowledge to benefit customers around the world by providing effective solutions in terms of cost, technology and environmental considerations. Other GTCs in the Alstom hydro network include the high-tech scale model test laboratory in Grenoble, France (lead centre), the Pelton turbine-testing centre in Vadodara, India and the GTC specializing in generators in Birr, Switzerland. The company offers a wide-range of sustainable hydro systems including dissolved oxygen, water-lubricated and oil-free solutions, as well as fish-friendly turbines.

About Alstom

Alstom is a global leader in the world of power generation, power transmission and rail infrastructure and sets the benchmark for innovative and environmentally friendly technologies. Alstom builds the fastest train and the highest capacity automated metro in the world. It provides turnkey integrated power plant solutions and associated services for a wide variety of energy sources, including hydro, nuclear, gas, coal and wind, and it offers a wide range of solutions for power transmission, with a focus on smart grids. The Group employs 92,000 people in 100 countries and had sales of €20.9 billion in 2010/11.