Alstom to build $200 million plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Alstom will build a new manufacturing facility in Chattanooga, Tenn., to manufacture steam turbines, gas turbines, generators and related equipment for use in United States power generation facilities. This will include manufacturing new steam turbines for fossil and nuclear applications, as well as retrofitting existing steam turbines. The project will represent an investment of more than $200 million.

In November, Alstom announced that it had been selected by UniStar Nuclear Energy (UNE) to supply at least four steam turbine generators for UNE’s planned fleet of nuclear power plants in the U.S. Alstom plans to manufacture turbines for UniStar at its Chattanooga facility.

Another factor was the growing demand for the retrofit of power generation equipment and Alstom’s leading position in the U.S. market for steam turbine retrofits. Retrofitting power generation equipment improves the efficiency of power plants and contributes to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

Chattanooga was chosen as a base of manufacturing operations for Alstom in the US because it offers several benefits. The city has an excellent transport infrastructure and it is a central location from which to deliver large, heavy steam turbines to current and planned power plants all across the country. The new manufacturing facility will result in the creation of approximately 350 jobs.

“This is a significant investment by Alstom in Chattanooga to expand our manufacturing and engineering capacity in the U.S., and it will allow us to take full advantage of our wide range of technologies in this country,” said Guy Chardon, senior vice president, Alstom Power Systems, in charge of the Turbomachines activity.