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French firm Alstom to build wind turbine factory in Texas

Alstom will be offering design, installation and maintenance services to the American market, as well as its turbines, like these 1.67MW E80 machines

French conglomerate Alstom announced yesterday that it is to build a wind turbine factory in Amarillo, Texas.

The power engineering company is entering the North American wind energy market after deploying turbines in Europe for 30 years.

At the heart of its expansion to the US, the company’s new assembly plant in Amarillo is set to create 275 full-time engineering, production and technical support jobs.

The planned 115,000 square foot plant will play host to the assembly of wind turbine nacelles – the main hub of the wind turbine, which contains the generator, gearbox and control systems of the machine.

Alstom said nacelles assembled at the Amarillo site will be transported to wind farm sites to be installed with blades and towers to form the complete wind turbine generators.

Andy Geissbuehler, Vice President and General Manager of Alstom Wind North America, said: “Amarillo is a compelling location for our wind turbine assembly facility in North America because it is centrally located with excellent access to future wind power projects.”

Turbines

Alstom turbines include a 1.67-megawatt rated machine, the ECO 80/86, as well as a 3MW machine, the ECO 100/110.

The machines feature gearboxes and drive train components protected from deflection loads by the company’s “Pure Torque” system.

The company already has 1,850 wind turbines in operation, mainly in Europe, offering more than 2,200 megawatts of generating capacity. Its global wind headquarters are located in Barcelona, Spain.

As part of its entry into the American wind market, Alstom is offering design, construction and maintenance services for wind turbines, as well as the turbines themselves.

Alstom already has a presence in North America with 6,000 employees and multiple manufacturing sites engaged in producing products and services in other energy sectors, including hydropower, carbon capture technology, nuclear and energy efficiency.

Collaboration

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory will carry out a study on Alstom's Pure Torque technology

As it expands into the North American market, Alstom said yesterday that it will also be collaborating with organizations including the new National Institute for Renewable Energy (NIRE) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

NIRE, an organization recently founded by Texas groups Innovate Texas Foundation, the Texas Tech University System and The Wind Alliance, has agreed a long-term collaborative R&D partnership with Alstom.

The work will initially focus on grid integration research and development, but beginning in the fall of 2010, NIRE will work to secure certification for Alstom’s 1.67MW ECO86 wind turbine. This is expected to take until the middle of 2011.

Meanwhile NREL will work to secure certification for Alstom’s 3MW ECO100 turbine, and will also carry out a comparitive study on Alstom’s Power Torque technology.