Alstom Secures £4 million funding award for its Stafford Grid Business

Alstom, the global engineering company, has been awarded £4million by the Governments Regional Growth Fund (RGF), for an investment programme at its Alstom Grid facilities in Stafford. The RGF funding is designed to encourage enterprise, growth and jobs in the private sector and will help develop essential R&D facilities at Alstoms world leading Grid engineering site.

The site, one of Alstom Grids five global technology centres, counts amongst its activities the development of advanced High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) solutions which enable highly efficient electricity exchange between networks, high voltage transmission over very long distances and also for the connection of large scale renewable power generation projects, such as offshore wind farms, to electricity grids.

Commenting on the success of the bid, Stephen Burgin, Alstom UKs Country President, said, We are delighted to be receiving this investment support, which is a major boost to expanding our Alstom Grid business in Stafford as well as helping to reinforce our continued commitment to the region.

Notes to editorsAlstom 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, 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.

Alstom is a substantial employer across the Midlands, with approximately 5000 of its 6500 UK employees working out of Midlands-based locations, including Stafford, Rugby, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Derby, Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Based in Stafford, Alstom's Grid business in the UK has over 130 year's experience in electrical grids and employs 1400 people at the Lichfield Road and St Leonards Avenue sites in Stafford.

Alstoms UK presence can be traced back to 1889 with the formation of the General Electric Company Ltd, the merger of GEC and Compagnie D'Electricitie (CGE) in 1989 - to become GEC Alsthom - and the eventual formation as Alstom in 1998. Today Alstom has more than 30 key locations across the country and employs over 6,500 people. Key reference projects include the supply and maintenance of Alstom's Pendolino high speed trains for Angel Trains (operated by Virgin Trains), supply and maintenance of the fleets of London Underground trains on the Northern and Jubilee lines, the design, engineering and construction of 75% of the UK's new generation of gas fired power stations and lead partner for National Grid's South East Electricity Alliance, which includes London and the surrounding area in what is the most densely populated and economically important areas of the UK.