Alstom inaugurates its first hydropower global technology center in Latin America

2014-5-26 Alstom Press Release Centre Alstom

 Alstom inaugurates its first hydropower global technology center (GTC) in Latin America in Taubaté -São Paulo State, in the presence of Jacques Hardelay, Global Hydro Chief Operating Officer of Alstom, Marcos Costa, Country President of Alstom Brazil and local authorities. This new center is an important extension of the existing hydropower industrial site of Taubaté, one of the largest in the world with almost 2.000 employees. The GTC itself represents an investment of €8 million, with 15 employees dedicated.

Alstom aims to support Brazil’s increasing power generation needs, developing Kaplan power plants, designed for low head  applications, between 15 and 60 meters. These plants are able to adapt to river flow variations, thus allowing the energy production throughout the year, both in flood and dry seasons. Brazil accounts for 45% of the future worldwide Kaplan market for new-build power stations.

The new technology centre reinforces a global network of centres based in Grenoble (France), Baroda (India), Birr (Switzerland), Sorel-Tracy (Canada) and Tianjin (China); and will thus contribute to the development of technological solutions for projects all over the world, in particular, in Latin America, meeting the specific needs of the region. It will have the complete hydro product technical expertise in a single location (turbines, generators, control, hydro-mechanical equipment and balance-of-plant, as well as services for hydro plants). The centre will take advantage of the existing manufacturing expertise of the Group, and local industrial facilities of Taubaté site. It will include a state-of-the-art test rig for turbine scale models. It will benefit from important partnerships with Brazilian engineering companies, institutes, and universities, such as Unifei (Federal University of Itajubá) and Unesp (State University of São Paulo) for future funding of doctor’s and master’s degrees related to the hydro market.

“The inauguration of the Brazilian GTC represents a key milestone for Alstom’s development in the country and in the renewable market. It will allow us to benefit from a feedback of experience of highly skilled R&D experts and engineers located close to our customers and to continually improve the products we design.”, said Jacques Hardelay, Global Hydro Chief Operating Officer.

Alstom is the world leading hydropower equipment supplier and service provider. With over a century of experience and extensive know-how in the hydropower industry, Alstom hydropower turbines and generators installed worldwide represent more than 25% of the total hydropower capacity. In Brazil, the company already supplied more than 100 turbines in the past 10 years. In Latin America, Alstom is currently supplying equipment for several projects with low head technology: Cachoeira Caldeirão, Santo Antonio, Santo Antonio do Jari, Baixo Iguaçu and São Manoel in Brazil, and Manduriacu, in Equator.