Alstom opens new hydropower industrial site in China

French conglomerate Alstom on Tuesday opened a major hydropower industrial site in China as the firm seeks to expand in a booming Asian market. The 100-million-euro ($134 million) upgrade to its plant in the northeastern city of Tianjin makes it Alstom's largest hydropower manufacturing site in the world, employing 2,000 people. The new infrastructure will allow the firm to deliver 26 turbine and generator units annually and produce turbines with a groundbreaking capacity of 1000 megawatts, according to Bruno Godin, head of operations at the site. The firm recently supplied four 800 MW class units to Xiangjiaba hydropower plant in China's southeast -- said to be the most powerful devices of their kind in the world. Alstom turbines and generators represent more than 25 percent of the world's total hydropower capacity, the company says.