Alstom T&D sees Rs15,000 crore of new business in India

Alstom T&D India, an arm of French energy major Alstom, is eyeing new business opportunities worth nearly Rs15,000 crore in the power transmission segment in India over the next three to four years, the company said on Thursday.

Grid security technology is another great opportunity coming up, Rathin Basu, president and managing director of Alstom T&D India, told reporters at a news conference in New Delhi.

Specialised components, such as Static Var compensators (SVCs) and 1,700 Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) used in electricity transmission grids will be required by March 2017 for strengthening of transmission network in the country.

"A series of projects is coming up and they will require several SVCs, PMUs (grip components) in different parts of India and we at Alstom are more than ready to do it," Basu said.

The government has already started the tendering process for SVCs, which is a Rs3,000-4,500 crore business opportunity, he said, while in the PMUs technology space the opportunity is close to Rs6,000 crore.

"These devices will make the grid more secure and protected," Basu said.

Since 2007, Alstom has invested more than Rs1,000 crore to set up facilities in India to manufacture equipment.

''These are good enough to carry out orders for the next five years. We may spend around Rs50-80 crore additionally every year to take care of the emerging technologies. In 2013-14, we are investing about Rs100 crore,'' Basu said.

Having manufacturing facilities in India would help Alstom to secure orders if tenders made it compulsory to source equipment indigenously. A similar clause has been introduced for the setting up of Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP).

Alstom's India unit contributes about 15 per cent to its global sales revenues of €4 billion from grid business. India is the single largest market for the company.