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Next page: Opportunities and challenges >> By Jesse Berst
For this reason, SGN periodically assesses major players to give utilities a perspective on their strategic vision, their strengths and their challenges. Today we're putting Alstom Grid under the microscope. In this article we'll cover:
· Alstom Grid's past (and how it pertains to the future)
· Strengths
· Opportunities
· Challenges
My market perspectives are gleaned from hundreds of interviews and conversations each year with vendors, consultants and utilities. Even so, it's still just one point of view, and -- as always -- we invite you to chime in with your own opinions using the Talk Back comment form at the bottom of the page.
Held back by its own history
For years, the organization now known as Alstom Grid has been distracted by its ownership changes. Let me give you a brief history so you understand what it had to face. It formed in 1978 in the Pacific Northwest as Esca Corp. In 1990, the French company Cegelec acquired Esca. In 1998, Paris-based Alstom merged with Cegelec and things were shuffled again.
In 2004, the French government took a 21% stake in Alstom to support its recovery from a financial crisis. Alstom was also "encouraged" to sell several of its subsidiaries to raise cash. The T&D activities went to Areva, another French company, and the division became known as Areva T&D.
A few years later, Areva underwent its own crisis and was forced to sell assets. In 2010, Alstom reacquired the T&D operation from Areva, forming the division now called Alstom Grid.
Parent company Alstom is a large French multinational with three major activities: 1) transportation infrastructure, 2) power generation and 3) grid. It employs more than 85,000 people in 70 countries and had revenues of roughly $25 billion in 2011.
Now for the good news: Two years after being reacquired by Alstom, there are no further ownership changes on the horizon and Alstom is hitting its stride. Clearly, things are going well. Last year, Alstom Grid hired 125 people for its Redmond, WA headquarters, bringing the total there to 450 (not counting independent contractors). Alstom Grid has 1,800 employees in the U.S. overall and operates in 45 of the 50 states.
To learn more about the once and future Alstom Grid, I sat down at company headquarters with Michael Atkinson, President & CEO, Alstom Grid North America. Atkinson oversees a portfolio that includes: .
· Control room solutions including EMS, DMS, demand response (DR) and market management systems (MMS)
· HVDC gear for long-distance transmission and for connecting wind farms to the grid
· Substation automation
· Systems integration via its UISOL subsidiary
· "Traditional" gear such as transformers and breakers
· "New school" gear such as Nxtphase optical instrument transformers and Psymetrix phasor measurement units (PMUs)
Strengths
Energy management systems. Alstom Grid has the largest installed base worldwide. What's more, it is a leader in the transition to phasor measurement data, thanks in part to its acquisition of Psymetrix and in part to its long partnership with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on grid research. Phasor data is clearly the future, and Alstom Grid is leading the parade. One issue: The EMS market is relatively small and relatively mature; it is unlikely to provide huge growth.
HVDC. Those in the know tell me that Alstom Grid's HVDC offerings are a generation ahead of the competition, with lower losses and lower installation costs. The challenge: Proving they can scale.
Enterprise architecture as competitive advantage. Alstom Grid formerly focused on self-contained, purpose-built software. It continues to customize software for individual clients, of course, but now with a more sophisticated enterprise architecture that lets it "productize" and reuse new code. This contrasts with competitor Siemens, which still tends to take a custom approach to each assignment.
User interface as competitive advantage. Alstom Grid has been working for years on new and better ways to visualize the grid and provide situational awareness. (Part of the time in partnership with the grid research team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.)
For instance, Alstom Grid has a new user interface (UI) for its DMS, including decision-support tools. It is also well along the path to integrating OMS, SCADA, network management and the demand response solutions from its subsidiary UISOL. The new interface ties all the elements into a physical view of the network.
Next page: Opportunities and challenges >>
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