EUROPEAN POWER PLAYER Alstom Power in Croatia has been continuously investing in new production capacity and technology. The group’s activities in Croatia are related to the thermal sector in order to support the country’s power generation equipment sector.
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lstom has two sites in Croatia: its sales offices are based in Zagreb whilst manufacturing, engineering and R&D all take place in Karlovac. As part of the global Alstom Group it offers gas & steam turbine components, ST blades, GT hot gas components, exhaust housings, exhaust diffusers, turbine and compressor vane carriers, ST inner casings components and GT compressor blades. Over 190 mechanical engineers work within its Engineering centre on international R&D activities in the field of mechanical equipment (steam & gas design, reconditioning, quality control, field assessments etc.) and electrical equipment. Since 1949, Alstom Croatia has sold 239 steam turbines to clients throughout the world.
Some recent projects for Alstom Croatia have included the upgrade of the HE Dubrovnik hydro power plant, involving the installation of major hydro mechanical equipment. Last year it was also involved in the revitalisation and modernisation of the turbine generator set for the Tuzla thermal power plant.
Continuous growth Between 2001 and 2003, Alstom Croatia went through a period of successful restructuring. This involved an expansion of its workforce to deal with a rise in demand and it invested €7 million in its production centre at Karlovac. Since then, the company has continued to build on those firm foundations and has seen positive growth despite the global financial situation over the past few years.
A key development in 2007 was the expansion of the business with the acquisition of Croatian company Turboteh, a Karlovac-based manufacturer of spare parts for steam turbines, compressors and pumps. At the same time, the company continued to invest in its own operations, with the modernisation of its factory in Karlovac. The biggest investments in recent years have been in new machines for turning and milling turbine stator components (gas casing, blade carriers etc). And there have been other investments, aimed at increasing capacity and quality in blade production, involving investment in new equipment and machines to speed up production times. The service portfolio was also expanded at the same time, so that it now includes
