Alstom awarded contract to deliver six large power transformers to Amprion

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Alstom has been commissioned a contract by transmission grid operator Amprion GmbH to deliver six large power transformers. The transformers, with a rated power of 350 MVA / 400 kV and 600 MVA / 400 kV, will be manufactured in Alstoms Mönchengladbach plant, and delivered by late 2015. The project will modernise the substations in Niederstedem, Urberach, Pfungstadt and Walsum in Germany.

Germany has an ambitious plan to phase out nuclear power plants by 2022, and achieve an energy mix with 50 per cent of renewable energy sources by 20301. With fewer power plants, and new fluctuating sources of renewable energy, electric networks are facing major challenges in stability and transmission capacity. Meanwhile, Germanys Grid Development Plan requires that transformers must be added or replaced.

Amprion will invest approximately 4.5 billion in its high voltage grid by 2023. The feed-in of renewable energies requires additional transformers to exchange the power between the distribution and transmission grid, and the transport of the up to 400 tonne large power transformers calls for an intact infrastructure, especially stable bridges, says Ludger Meier, Head of Construction and Operation at Amprion GmbH.

This major order confirms the confidence our long-standing customer Amprion has in the quality and technology of our products. Our power transformers from Mönchengladbach will contribute to the continuous expansion of the power grids, and to the implementation of the energy transition in Germany, says Dr Jochen Schwarz, Member of the Board at Alstom Deutschland AG and General Manager of Alstom Grid GmbH in Mönchengladbach.

At the production site in Mönchengladbach, more than 1,000 power transformers for onshore and offshore use have been built in the last 10 years. Although transformers are viewed as a conventional product, each transformer is tailor-made to the specific customer requirements, such as performance characteristics, site and transport conditions, losses and noise level.
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1) International Energy Agency, 2013

Press contacts
Beatrix Fontius (Alstom Deutschland AG) Tel: +49 621 329 2547 
beatrix.fontius@alstom.com

Aline Besselièvre (Alstom Grid) Tel: +33 1 49 01 67 60
aline.besselievre@alstom.com

Elizabeth Wang (Alstom Grid) Tel: +33 1 49 01 61 23
elizabeth.wang-ext@alstom.com