Signing flurry for Alstom in Russia
13 December 2010
Agreements to support Russia's nuclear energy market, including plans to set up a facility to manufacture steam turbines, have figured in a list of strategic agreements signed by Alstom and major Russian energy companies.
The agreements were signed on 9 December in Moscow at a ceremony attended by Russian and French prime ministers Vladimir Putin and Francois Fillon. According to Alstom, the agreements confirm the French company's strategy to become a key partner for Russian infrastructure development. Agreements were also signed in the fields of hydro and thermal power generation and electricity transmission.
The nuclear agreements were signed under the Alstom-Energomash joint venture, which was established in 2007 to manufacture the conventional islands of nuclear power plants. These include a memorandum of understanding (MoU) detailing plans to set up a local facility to manufacture Asltom's Arabelle nuclear steam turbines and turbines for fossil fuel applications, as envisaged when the joint venture was first set up. The enterprise will also produce emergency diesel generators, according to Atomenergomash.
Atomenergomash CEO Vladimir Kashchenko said that building such a plant in Russia would enable the company to become Russia's number one supplier for turbines for nuclear power plants.
Another MoU was signed by Alstom and a joint venture between Russian energy company Inter Rao UES and Australian engineering company Worley Parsons to set up an engineering consortium to jointly design turbine islands for power plants based on Russia's VVER pressurised water reactor. Under the MoU, the Alstom-Atomenergomash joint venture will be responsible for component production, while Inter Rao-Worley Parsons will act as chief designer. According to Atomenergomash, the project's initial market is seen as nuclear construction projects in the Russian federation and other countries, although future expansion to non-nuclear applications is envisaged.
Alstom chairman and CEO Patrick Kron pointed to Russian plans to expand its power generation capacity to support the country's growing energy needs, including plans to nearly double its nuclear energy output by 2020. In addition, the country plans to double its hydropower capacity by 2030 and also has plans to improve energy efficiency through retrofitting, retirement and replacement of its existing fleet of thermal power plants.
"Russia has become over the last few years a strategic market for Alstom, both in the field of rail infrastructure and of power generation and electricity transmission," Kron noted.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News