Alstom Breaks Ground With Wind Turbine Nacelle Assembly Facility In Amarillo, Texas

AMARILLO, Texas, May 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Alstom, a global leader in power generation, today held a ceremony with officials of the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation and others at the state, county, and local level to commemorate the construction of their 115,000 square foot wind turbines nacelle assembly facility in Amarillo, Texas. The Alstom wind turbine nacelle assembly facility, which is scheduled to be operational in 2011, will create 275 full time engineering, production, and technical support jobs in Amarillo, Texas when the plant is at full capacity.  Alstom discussed the role of the Amarillo facility in supporting the next phase of the company's entry into the North American wind power market at a press conference at the American Wind Energy Association meeting earlier this week.

Alfonso Faubel, Alstom Wind Vice President, said, "Amarillo is the ideal location for Alstom's wind power manufacturing hub in North America because it is centrally located in an area that is expected to create a substantial number of new wind power projects over the next several years.  In addition, Amarillo has invested in the infrastructure needed to transport the sizeable equipment to potential sites all across North America and the resources needed to train its work force to be as productive as possible."  

Workers at the Amarillo facility will assemble the "nacelles" -- i.e., the generator, gearbox, and control systems that make up a wind turbine.  The nacelles will be transported to sites where they will be combined with blades and a tower to create the complete wind turbine generator.  Alstom will offer its North American customers a product that includes any combination of the complete unit and the engineering, design, construction, and maintenance of the facility. Alstom's wind power technology features the ALSTOM PURE TORQUE ™ design, which delivers higher gearbox reliability, higher operational availability, and lower maintenance costs.

Andy Geissbuehler, VP & GM, Alstom Wind North America, said, "We are grateful for the support we have received from the Amarillo EDC and a broad cross section of leaders at the state, country, and local level.  Without their foresight and support this project would not be possible.  We look forward to a mutually successful partnership with the community and the entire Panhandle region."

Click here to access multimedia press release on Alstom's announcement at AWEA WindPower: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/alstom/43916/

About Alstom
Alstom (www.alstom.com) is a global leader in the world of power generation 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, and provides turnkey integrated power plant solutions, equipment and associated services for a wide variety of energy sources, including hydro, nuclear, gas, coal and wind. The Group employs 76,500 people in 70 countries and had sales of nearly Euro 20 billion in 2009/10.  

About Alstom Wind

Alstom Wind designs, assembles and installs a wide range of onshore wind turbines spanning 1.67 MW to 3 MW. The company is responsible for a significant share of the development of the Spanish wind power market, which is ranked second largest in Europe. Alstom Wind currently generates about 50% of its sales from other European countries. To date, the company has installed or is installing over 1850 wind turbines in more than 100 wind farms, corresponding to a total capacity of over 2200 MW.

SOURCE Alstom