Committed to the Development of the Smart Grid, Alstom Grid Launches Several New Products at CIGRE 2010

This week at the CIGRE 2010 Session in Paris , Alstom Grid is demonstrating its commitment to the development of the Smart Grids by launching for an international audience no less than five new solutions.

As a specialist in electrical grids for over a century, Alstom Grid has continued to prioritize innovation. Such ongoing innovations include Digital Substations with IEC61850 interoperability and smart solutions for managing renewable and distributed generation. The company has already played a pioneering role in delivering substations for several of the first offshore wind farms in Europe, and, following on from its proven experience in the delivery of long distance High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) interconnections, Alstom Grid is also successfully delivering Ultra HV 800kV DC transformers.

Building on these advanced technologies, Alstom Grid is launching the following specific solutions throughout the week-long CIGRE 2010 session:

• 1. Voltage Source Converter HVDC offer
• Launched together with Alstom Grids newly published technical book on HVDC
• 2. the RPH3 point-on-wave switching controller
• 3. the COSI Compact Optical Sensor Intelligence range of digital instrument transformers
• 4. e-terrasource 2.0 multi-area, CIM-based modeling solution for power systems
• 5. e-terraplatform 2.6 highly advanced Energy Management System (EMS)

Customers are discovering the benefits of each of these new solutions at dedicated launch events.

Launch One:

A step forward in HVDC Transmission technology and knowledge

Faced with the 21st centurys constantly evolving energy challenges, HVDC will play a major role, permitting more efficient energy trading and transmission as well as the interconnection of renewable energies into networks worldwide.

Alstom Grids Power Electronics team is now entering one of the key emerging HVDC segments, Voltage Source Converters (VSC) - HVDC connections.

VSC schemes are the economical and efficient means to connect offshore wind farms to the onshore network. This new generation of HVDC converter technology uses a self-commutated switching device, an Insulated Gate Bi-polar Transistor (IGBT), and a semi-conductor device which can be turned on and turned off by an external controller. Alstom Grid is building a 25 MW VSC demonstrator facility at its technology centre in Stafford, UK, which will be open for customer visits in early November.

Alstom Grid is also taking the opportunity of CIGRE 2010, to publish the latest volume in its technical book Series HVDC: Connecting to the Future. This new book covers the history and innovations in HVDC technology since the early days of Power Electronics in the 1960s. HVDC: Connecting to the future was written to strengthen the knowledge base of the men and women who will be designing and building the transmission systems of the future. It is based on the collective experience and expertise of Alstom Grids technical engineers. The book is complemented by writings from global experts at leading companies and universities.

Launch Two:

Alstom Grids new Built-in Digital Monitoring and Controlled Switching for Smart Substations
This new point-on-wave switching controller, RPH 3, offers an electronic alternative to conventional solutions, providing increased security and protection of the electrical equipment in networks from 362kV. It uses sophisticated algorithms and fast digital signal processing to close contacts in under a millisecond, when the voltage across the circuit breaker is close to zero. It increases reliability, requires less maintenance, is very easy to install and is smart grid ready (fully IEC 61850 compliant) with its integrated web server. It can be used for configuration, monitoring, data logging and diagnostics. RPH 3 fully supports the optimization of the customers network design, operation and maintenance, and reduces the total cost of ownership.

Launch Three:

New Optical Instrument Transformer Technology IEC 61850 Compliant for Smart Grids

Alstom Grid has developed a brand new range of digital instrument transformer solutions. This new range, called COSI Compact Optical Sensor Intelligence- is made up of innovative products serving both AC (up to 1200 kV) and DC (up to 800 kV) transmission systems but also high current DC applications such as aluminum electrolysis. The COSI range features new technological benefits that deliver direct digital output for metering applications, provide measurement improvements and offer greater flexibility. The range also presents economical advantages since it requires less maintenance, is more compact and lighter, and uses fewer materials while offering greater installation flexibility. In addition, our COSI range is also more environmentally friendly, offering minimized explosion risk and leakage, no use of oil and SF6, easier end-of-life disposal and reduced use of materials.

Launches Four and Five:

Latest e-terra Energy and Market Management Software Solutions
Alstom Grids world leading e-terra suite of energy and market management software solutions is designed to streamline power and information flows, optimize operations and assets, with a high level of security and improved quality of service.

The new e-terrasource 2.0 power system modeler is a database application that manages the models of the power system that are required for analysis of the reliability and economics of the system as a whole. It allows past, present and future (planned) states of the grid to be represented in a time continuum. These models are used in operations control, in electricity markets, in system expansion planning, as well as other areas of power utilities. e-terrasource is designed to function in an integrated enterprise architecture, supporting concurrent multi-user activities. It is based on CIM standards from TC57 and is compatible with modern architectural notions such as the NIST Smart Grid Roadmap and CIGRE D2.24.

The final new product is e-terraplatform 2.6, the latest, upward compatible release of Alstom Grid's world leading product for Energy Management Systems. In this release, the SCADA, network security analysis, simulator, and generation management subsystems have been extended to accommodate current and future needs like integration of renewable and distributed energy resources into the grid, on-line stability applications, optimization of the generation fleet, enterprise message bus integration, CIM-based modeling, cybersecurity, scalability and more.

^{CIGRE = International Council on Large Electric Systems www.cigre.org
On 8 June 2010, Alstom unveiled its new sector, named Alstom Grid, following its acquisition of the transmission and power electronics activities of Areva T&D.}

About Alstom
Alstom is a global leader in the world of power generation, power transmission 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. It provides turnkey integrated power plant solutions and associated services for a wide variety of energy sources, including hydro, nuclear, gas, coal and wind, and it offers a wide range of solutions for power transmission, with a focus on smart grids. The Group employs 96,500 people in more than 70 countries, and had sales of over 23 billion* in 2009/10. (*Pro forma figures)

Alstom Grid, the newest sector of Alstom, has over 100 years of expertise in electrical grids. Whether for utilities or electro-intensive industries or facilitating the trading of energy, Alstom Grid brings power to their customers projects. Alstom Grid ranks among the top 3 in electrical transmission sector with a sales turnover of approximately 3.5 billion in 2009. It has 20,000 employees and over 90 manufacturing and engineering sites worldwide. Its four main business areas are Products, Systems, Automation and Service. At the heart of the development of Smart Grid, Alstom Grid offers products, services and integrated energy management solutions across the full energy value chainfrom power generation, through transmission and distribution grids and to the large end user.

Press Contacts

James Millard (Alstom Grid) Tel : +33 1 34 96 92 54
james.millard@areva-td.com

Website www.alstom.comwww.grid.alstom.com

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