5 billion per year over the past four years

The beast is 13 metres and weighs 160 tonnes. It is a GT 26 gas turbine rotor. Christophe Antes, Director of the Alstom of Birr (Switzerland) factory, does not hide his pride. "Deal with the application, we went to x 3, 8, seven days a week", said the engineer. In total, the site should build this year between 150 and 160 rotors by welding technology that it is the only control. Approximately like last year, but more than in previous years.

With the impact of the crisis on the investment, things could change in the coming months. In the first quarter of its fiscal year tax, closed June 30, the French champion of the railway infrastructure and energy saw its total orders drop by 30. Typically, the effect will be the sales within 12 to 24 months. With the slowdown, CEO, Patrick Kron, does not remove fixed-term contracts.

For Philippe Joubert, boss of the energy division, which generates two-thirds of the sales of the group, there is no reason to panic. "In 2010, the world of energy will enter a new era, he says." Each year, approximately 100 megawatts of capacity will reach the critical age of forty. "Just as with the men with surgery, said, it presents at nine. This is what is called the "retrofit" in the jargon, a real gold mine for the group.

The market is huge as it is on the basis of installed plants worldwide, namely 4,500 gigawatt. But Alstom believes that its turbines and generators are present in 25 of the facilities, against 18 for General Electric and 15 for Siemens. Not in coal-fired plants, where it is very represented French sales annual market of the extension of life at EUR 6.5 billion per year over the past four years.

The "retrofit" engines are multiple, explains Philippe Joubert. One of them is the environmental constraints. By modernizing a turbine or by changing a boiler, a plant can reduce its carbon dioxide emissions up to 13. And that's not counting on the development of CO2 capture solutions. "Electricians are forced to work on the efficiency of power plants, they must use less fuel and produce more megawatts.

A trade that changes

It is a constant concern, said Guy Chardon, responsible for thermal products in the energy division. "All our engineers want to improve the efficiency of power plants," he said. By changing some components, customers can take advantage of the progress made over the past thirty years. At the time, a coal plant could convert only 30 of the heat created by electricity. Today, this rate rises to 47, or even to 58 for gas-fired power plants.

All of this changes the trade. Before, Alstom considered these services such as maintenance, carried out at the blow by blow. Today, it offers global solutions. Customers have also changed. "Electricians managing their Park in portfolio over the past five years," said Guy Chardon.

The division her hair new equipment and services activities is 13 billion, against 4.5 billion in 2003, when Alstom had been near bankruptcy. Philippe Joubert, the author of this remedy, is not rest there. Project: new President of transmission and distribution activities transferred to Areva in 2004 to bail out the own funds. Five years later, the nuclear group is the subsidiary for sale. Thursday, Schneider Electric and Alstom announced their intention to make a joint offer.