Alstom inaugurates its first hydropower global technology center in Latin America in Taubaté in São Paulo State, Brazil.

This new center is an extension of the existing hydropower industrial site of Taubaté, with almost 2,000 employees. The GTC itself represents an investment of nearly $10 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 percent of the future worldwide Kaplan market for new-build power stations.

The new technology center reinforces a global network of centers based in Grenoble (France), Birr (Switzerland), Baroda (India), 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), ITA (Aeronautics Technological Institute) and Unesp (State University of São Paulo) for future funding of doctor’s and master’s degrees related to the hydro market.