Alstom makes a splash at HydroVision 2014

Friday, July 25th: HydroVision International 2014 is coming to as close here in Nashville with two Alstom winners at the Awards and Luncheon Closing Finale. François Berthiaume, Commercial Director for the companys hydro activities in North America had a few opeing remarks at the Alstom-sponsored luncheon before the agenda turned over to announcing the award winners.

First up, the technical paper entitled Comparison of Pumped Storage Retrofit and Upgrade to Variable Speed through Two Recent Case Studies in Europe won in the Equipment and Technology category. The paper was presented by Alstom speaker and co-author Sylvain Antheaume. Other authors include Yves Labrecque, Jean-Bernard Houdeline and Geoffrey Darona, as well as EDFs Patrick Laurier.

Debbie Mursch, Director, Market Strategy and Development for Alstoms hydro activities in the North America, won for top panel session as part of Wednesdays activities. She moderated the ession entitled, Criteria for Successful Pumped Storage Development.  Congratulations to all of the winners!!!

Alstom was also one of this years social media AllStars at HydroVision, keeping attendees up to date on all of Alstoms activities at the premiere conference and exhibition. Make sure to follow us @AlstomUSA if you are following us already to be kept up to speed on all of our activities in the US, and look out for updates as we look forward to next years HydroVision in Portland, OR.

Tuesday, July 22nd: Day one of the conference is off to a great start here in Nashville, TN!!

Alstoms CTO of Renewable Energy, Maryse Francois, was one of ten women recognized with a 'Women in HydroVision' award, for their significant contributions to the hydro industry, sharing their unique talents and vision to improve and advance important aspects of hydropower.

The keynote session included a diverse lineup of hydropower industry stakeholders, sharing their vision for the industry's future. Speakers from the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), the largest owner and operator of hydropower in the U.S., opened the session. Lieutenant General Thomas Bostick, Commanding General of the Corps highlighted the role of the Corps' facilities for flood control, water transport and supply and power generation. He emphasized the need to invest in our existing hydro fleet to improve generating capacity and extend operation for an additional 50 years. The Corps is seeking $1BUSD in federal funding to replace turbines and generators at all 28 of the Corps units over the next 20 years.  

Following the General's remarks, representatives from the three largest industry associations including the International Hydropower Association (IHA), National Hydropower Association (NHA) and Canadian Hydropower Association (CHA) added their insights on the challenges and solutions to increasing hydropower generation. Ken Adams, President of IHA spoke of the global goal of 2050 gigawatts (GW) of capacity by the year 2050. Jacob Irving, President of CHA, encouraged the U.S. to increase imports of hydropower from its northern neighbor, joking that 'we'd like to make Canada's impact on U.S. hydropower rival Canada's impact on the U.S. country music industry. He supported his point by educating the audience on the long list of country music superstars who are Canadian.

Meike van Ginneken, sector manager, World Bank, spoke on the need for hydropower to be both environmentally and economically sustainable. She noted the need to develop new private financing models for hydro while cautioning that the industry needs to improve project execution and risk management.

Jose Zayas, Director of the Water and Wind Power Technologies, US DOE, spoke about the HydroVision study underway at the DOE to find out what actions are needed to increase hydro generation in the U.S. agency. The report is scheduled for publication by Q3 2015.

The keynote session was followed by the opening of the exhibit area. Alstom greeted clients and project partners at our booth.

Alstom gears up for the world's largest hydro power conference, HydroVision International 2014!

Over 3,000 attendees including the biggest names in the industry will gather from July 22-25^th, 2014 in the country music capital of Nashville, Tennessee. The event will feature presentations discussions and demonstrations from experts on the technologies and trends that are shaping the hydro power market. 

Alstom’s advanced technology is behind some of world’s largest hydropower plants including the 22,500megawatt (MW) Three Gorges Dam in China and the Itaipu Dam in Brazil with a generating capacity of 14,000MW. The company is also a leader in small scale hydro and pumped-storage and variable speed pumped-storage solutions for new and existing hydro power plants. These technologies will be a key topic at the conference as they help meet the important market need for increased flexibility to partner with renewables such as wind and improve grid reliability by balancing production and consumption.

Modernization and rehabilitation of the existing fleet will be another key topic at this year's conference. In North America most of the approx. 200Gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity is over 30 years old. Thats why Alstom is developing and implementing refurbishment and modernization solutions that increase the reliability and energy output while reducing environmental footprint of existing hydro plants.

Over 20 Alstom experts are on the conference agenda where they talk about these solutions and industry. Click here for a full list of events and panel sessions at HydroVision 2014.  

Come visit Alstom's booth #600, and check back for live updates from the show floor!!!! 

Learn more about Alstoms world class hydro turbines, services, generators and more. 

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