Alstom has announced it has signed strategic agreements with major Russian energy companies to jointly provide power generation products and services for Russia's power industry.
Alstom confirmed that it would be working with the Russian companies primarily in the fields of hydro, thermal, and nuclear generation – as well as electricity transmission.
For hydro power, Alstom Power has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with RusHydro JSC, Russia's biggest hydro generation company, to jointly exploit opportunities in the booming Russian hydro industry.
The agreement covers four key areas of cooperation: reconstruction and modernisation of the Kubanski cascade hydro power complex in Southern Russia; cooperation on the development of hydro power activities; cooperation in areas of R&D and investment; and local manufacturing of hydro power equipment in the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan.
In the field of nuclear power generation, Alstom Power and the Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom, the regulatory body of the Russian nuclear infrastructure, under the 2007-established joint venture Alstom-Atomenergomash (AAEM), signed several new agreements to further support Russia's growing nuclear energy market.
One MoU details plans to set up a local facility to manufacture Alstom's Arabelle nuclear steam turbines, the most powerful steam turbines in the world, as well as steam turbines for fossil fuel applications. A second MoU with the Inter RAO UES - Worley Parsons (IRWP) joint venture was signed to establish an engineering consortium to jointly design turbine islands for Russia's VVER reactor-based nuclear power plants.
In the field of thermal power generation, Alstom Power and Inter RAO UES, a key power supplier with a number of generation and distribution assets in Russia and abroad, signed a MoU to develop cooperation in order to jointly provide industrial products and services for Russia's power industry.
Projects will include the installation of new instrumentation and control systems as well as site security systems. The joint venture will produce small steam turbine packages for power and joint district steam heating and power applications.
In the field of electricity transmission, Alstom Grid and OAO FSK EES, the federal operator of Russia's unified electrical grid system, signed an agreement to establish an Alstom Grid - FSK research cooperation in the Skolkovo technology zone of Moscow, focusing on a variety of tasks intended to increase the efficiency, reliability and security of the Russian electrical grids.
The agreements were signed in the presence of Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, French prime minister Francois Fillon, Russian energy minister Sergei Shmatko, chairman and CEO of Alstom Patrick Kron, and Alstom Power president Philippe Joubert.
“Russia is playing an increasingly important role in the global economy and is looking to modernise and increase its power generation capacity to meet its growing demand for power”, noted Kron. “Alstom's technology and service expertise, when combined with local partners' manufacturing and service capabilities, offers an ideal solution for securing this energy future.”