Acquisition Strengthens Company's U.S. Hydropower Service Offering

MONTREAL, March 11 /PRNewswire/ - Alstom, a global leader in hydropower for new plants, and refurbishment and services for existing plants, today announced that it acquired some of the assets of North American Phoenix - Energy Services (NAPES), a North American producer headquartered in Wausau, Wisconsin of control systems and speed governors for hydro power plants. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. This acquisition reinforces Alstom's footprint in the U.S. renewable energy sector, in which hydro occupies a major share.

Philippe Cochet, President of Alstom Hydro* said, "This acquisition strengthens Alstom Hydro's position as a leader in the North American market; it will help us broaden our product portfolio and expand our U.S. hydro services business by enabling us to offer better and wider services to respond to customers' expectations concerning control and governing systems."

The acquisition also adds new locations in two key areas of the U.S. hydropower market, namely the states of Washington and Wisconsin. "These additions, combined with our existing locations in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec and Denver, Colorado, reinforce Alstom Hydro's North American footprint so that we may better respond to our customers needs with the most advanced and adaptable solutions," adds Claude Lambert, Alstom Hydro North America President and CEO.

The hydro-installed base in North America is around 170 GW: 70 GW in Canada and 100 GW in the U.S., where the average age of installed units is 41 years and 54 years, respectively. Hydro units have an estimated average operating lifetime of 40 years, after which the units normally need servicing in the form of major repairs, rehabilitation, refurbishment or replacement. However, replacement of control systems might be more frequent. Much of the installed base in North America has been operating for 40 to 50 years; over time, the service market for installed units will grow, as customers increasingly seek to optimize the efficiency of existing units.

Editor's notes

    *Alstom Hydro has over 400 GW of turbines and generators installed
    worldwide which represent more than 25% of the total global hydropower
    installed capacity. As the world leader in supply of hydropower equipment
    & services, Alstom Hydro offers products and turnkey solutions that cover
    all hydropower schemes, from large to small, from run-of-river to
    pumped-storage. With more than 7,000 employees in 19 countries Alstom
    Hydro offers the broadest range of products and services for new
    installations, refurbishment, upgrading and services.

About Alstom

Alstom is a global leader in the world of power generation 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, and provides turnkey integrated power plant solutions and associated services for a wide variety of energy sources, including hydro, nuclear, gas, coal and wind. The Group employs 81,500 people in 70 countries, and had orders of (euro)24,6 billion in 2008/09.

SOURCE ALSTOM CANADA INC.

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