Alstom's Repowering Project to Give Dutch Plant 58% Efficiency

JOHANNESBURG--June 24, 2008--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--France's Alstom (EPA:ALO) has signed contracts to repower the configuration of one Essent N.V. (Arnhem, The Netherlands) unit at the Claus power plant and to build another unit at the site in Maasbracht in the southeastern part of the country. The contracts include the Claus B unit and the new Claus C unit to increase the facility's thermal efficiency from the current 39% to 58%. This would make the plant one of the highest-rated combined-cycle plants in the world. In May, Essent also signed a contract with General Electric (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut) to build a 400-MW gas-fired unit in Moerdijk in the southern part of the country to double the present output by 2012.