Alstom inaugurates its new global hydropower technology centre in Grenoble

Patrick Kron, Chairman and CEO of Alstom, and Jérôme Pécresse, President of Alstom's Renewable Power Sector, inaugurated on 1st February, the new headquarters of Alstom's global technology and hydropower centre in Grenoble, a centre of expertise which carries out all hydropower research and development for Alstom. Delphine Batho, Minister of Ecology, sustainable development and energy, and Geneviève Fioraso, Minister of Research and higher education, also attended the inauguration. The Grenoble site houses 650 Alstom employees, including teams specialising in engineering, project management and manufacturing. There is also a plan to group together additional human resources and technical means on site in the near future.

Grenoble is Alstom's headquarters and main site for an international network of hydropower experts. Alstom has developed other global technology centres which allow the company to be close to the market. They are located in Birr, Switzerland which specialises in generators, Sorel-Tracy, Canada dedicated to service and renovation, Vadodara, India focused on Pelton turbines and abrasion resistance, in Taubaté, Brazil for Kaplan turbines and in Tianjin, China to meet the needs of the Chinese market.

The inauguration followed a major programme during the last few years to upgrade the site, and to double the capacity of its hydraulic test laboratory, which currently has six test-rigs.
Alstom has also announced the creation of an industrial chair dedicated to hydraulic machines at the Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble (Grenoble INP). The chair will be the first step in the creation of a centre of excellence in hydraulic machine research with broader aims and partnerships. The goal is to equip the centre with an additional turbine test-rig to be shared by the partners at the centre (Alstom, Grenoble INP, etc.).

More than 25% of the world's hydropower plants are equipped by Alstom, one of the global leaders in the hydropower market due to its research efforts, designs, tests and ongoing development.