Alstom Says Power Grid Market to Grow 3% a Year Through 2014
Alstom SA, the world’s third- largest power-transmission company, said it expects the global market for electricity grids to grow by 3 percent a year in the five years through 2014, as electricity’s share of world energy consumption rises.
The market recovered this year from the 2009 crisis, boosted by “major” high-voltage direct-current projects, Alstom Grid President Henri Poupart-Lafarge told analysts today in Aix-les-Bains, France, according to a presentation on the company’s website. He reiterated the market-growth forecast Alstom made in June when it expanded into power grids.
Alstom’s grid unit, which sells high-voltage equipment such as power transformers, substations, switchgears, and network management and protection systems, said demand for increased energy reliability, flexibility, savings and storage will boost its sales for “smart grid” equipment, software and services.
The French maker of trains, turbines and other power equipment became the No. 3 power-grid company when it bought Areva SA’s power-transmission unit in June for 2.3 billion euros ($3.1 billion). ABB Ltd. is the biggest, followed by Siemens AG.
Alstom is well placed to benefit from government investment in electricity networks, increasing transmission needs from utilities that build wind farms and dams, and a recovery in industrial investment in the short to medium term, the company said today.
Electricity’s share of global energy consumption will rise to more than 20 percent in 2030 from 16 percent in 2004, Poupart-Lafarge said.
Competitors from South Korea, China and India such as Mumbai-based Crompton Greaves Ltd. are extending their offerings and geographical reach, the Paris-based company said. Alstom’s grid business had sales of 3.5 billion euros in 2009, representing a global market share of about 12 percent, it said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Francois de Beaupuy in Paris at fdebeaupuy@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net.
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