Alstom moved during the summer 150 tons of equipment and partly-assembled machines to the new plants located at the port of Saint-Nazaire. Special logistics therefore had to be set up for this operation in order to move that equipment designed by Alstom that exists nowhere else in the world. Currently under production, the wind turbines intended for the Deepwater farm in the US were transferred too, so their assembly could continue in the new plants.
The transfer of equipment is a vital step in the plant project. The preparation of the plants will continue until the end of September. New manufacturing equipment will be installed and tested, and the works will resume with the last finishing touches inside the buildings. Finally, it will be necessary to start up the production line step by step, until the new plants manufacturing the generators and nacelles for the Haliade™ 150-6MW wind turbine are fully operational as per the initial schedule, meaning early 2015. This product is a key component in Alstom’s industrial plan, which aims at manufacturing the whole of this next-generation turbine in France, thereby creating 1,000 direct and 4,000 indirect jobs.