Alstom begins building Haliade plants

The factories will be located in St-Nazaire, in Normandy, northern France, and will principally supply turbines to 1.5GW of projects in the English Channel.

Alstom aims to commission the plants, which will assemble nacelles and produce generators, in 2014. The two buildings will cover 2.5 hectares and be situated within 14 hectares of land. In 2015, another two factories are planned for Cherbourg, Normandy, that will produce blades and towers.

Last year, Alstom formed part of an EDF-led consortium that won three projects totalling nearly 1.5GW. Other members are Danish energy company Dong Energy, French developer Nass & Wind Offshore and German developer WPD Offshore.

Alstom will supply 240 of its new Haliade 150 6MW turbines to the consortium, an order worth more than €2 billion. The company is investing €100 million in building the four factories.

The building of the St-Nazaire factories will be officially launched by Alstom CEO Patrick Kron, Alstom Renewable Power president Jérôme Pécresse and French Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault.