Alstom working to energise Vietnam

To kick-off the anniversary celebrations, Alstom and other French business leaders, together with French Minister of Foreign Trade, Nicole Bricq, will be attending the Vietnam–France Business Forum opening ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City on April 8 as well as the French-Vietnam Year 2013 launching event in Hanoi on April 9.

Alstom has been an integral part of Vietnam’s growth over the last 20 years, contributing to the country’s energy and transport infrastructure development through its power, transport and grid business units.

Alstom first established a presence in Vietnam with the opening of offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in the early 90s. Since then, it has participated in many prestigious power plant projects such as the large hydropower plants of Son La and Huoi Quang and the combined cycle power plants of Phu My and Nhon Trach.

More recently, Alstom has been awarded contracts to supply the electro-mechanical equipment for the Lai Chau and Dong Nai 5 hydropower plants together with its consortium partners, respectively Hydrochina Zhongnan Engineering Corp and Hydrochina Huadong Engineering Corp totalling €100 million.

Alstom first helped Vietnam Railways modernise its four workshops in 1998 before supplying the first modern mainline signalling system in Vietnam in 2002. Subsequently, Vietnam Railways also chose Alstom to modernise part of the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City main line, for the portion which links Hanoi to Vinh city.

Alstom has been one of the main partners of Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) since early the 90s and has provided transmission solutions to important projects for many utilities and industry customers. Alstom supplied all the 500kV substations along the second 500KV transmission line linking the north and the south as well as several serial power compensation systems.  

As one of the main suppliers of substation protection, digital control equipment and network management systems, Alstom provided two of the three existing regional supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems in Vietnam. Among the most recent projects were the provision of primary equipment and materials for the 500/220 kV My Tho and Vinh Tan substations in southern Vietnam in contracts worth approximately €16 million.

As part of a major long-term investment in Vietnam and Asia, Alstom last year announced a partnership with Vietnam Electricity to establish a state-of–the-art gas turbine reconditioning workshop in the Phu My Power Complex.  This will be a first in the country, and the first in Alstom's network in Asia.

“We are proud to have contributed to the phenomenal growth in Vietnam over the last 20 years and we look forward to continuously playing a significant part in the continuing Vietnamese success story. Asia is a very important market for Alstom and Vietnam, with its prime East Asia location, is ideally positioned to be a regional base for the reconditioning workshop,” said Alstom Vietnam’s country president Michel Burtin.

Alstom’s contributions to Vietnam’s future go beyond just building infrastructure. The Alstom Foundation helped improve the living conditions of 1,000 children around the Mekong Delta where few families have access to clean water and many use latrines that are unsafe for the environment and children’s health.

The foundation empowers child leaders to facilitate a network of ‘Green Community Committees’ advocating for change in the environment and their communities. The project will also oversee the construction of safe water systems and latrines as well as education and best practice training for environmental awareness, water sanitation and trash disposal.