Power generation N.1

Power Generation
news
On February 9-10, Ansaldo Energia
held its first Service Sales Conference
at corporate headquarters, in which
strategic and commercial
presentations were interspersed with
technical sessions to illustrate the
latest novelties in the Ansaldo Energia
services and solutions portfolio.
The event was well attended by staff
from various sectors, including the
company’s foreign offices in America,
Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Carlo Luzzatto, the director of the
Service Division, illustrated recent
success stories, short and medium
term objectives, the company’s
technology goals and commercial
growth strategies.
2005 saw strong business
development, with excellent
performance reported in some
sectors, such as the 66% rise in short
term contracts and a 68% increase in
the number of major overhauls
conducted. 2005 also initiated nonorganic
growth, with the acquisition of
a minority stake in ESG AG (Energy
Service Group), a Swiss-based
company specialising in on-site
services.
Further order and billing growth is
expected in 2006, with a rise of at
least 20% predicted on 2005.
Detailed performance figures for 2005
provided by Stefano Gianatti, Sales
Director, revealed that excellent new
order results were achieved in all
geographical areas, with better than
forecast contributions from Latin
America, Europe, Italy and Asia.
Looking more closely at short term
targets, 2006 will see the consolidation
of new upgrade/solution opportunities,
the confirmation of our business
presence in Iran, a greater
commitment to Russia, the
consolidation of business in Europe
and continued growth in Africa, Latin
America and the Middle and Far East.
Customer proximity action and the
expansion of overseas offices run by
Ansaldo Energia will also continue.
The General Manager and Managing
Director of ESG, Hans Rauber,
described in detail how ESG
contributes to enriching the Ansaldo
Energia services portfolio, by providing
easily transportable tools, in-depth
experience conducting on-site
services, and a distributed network of
expert consultants with a consolidated
presence in many countries.
New solutions addressed to upgrading
performance, reducing emissions and
upgrading V.64 and V.94 series gas
turbine packages were illustrated by
Enrico Rebora, the manager in charge
of engineering, who commented on
the recent technological advances
developed independently by Ansaldo
Energia in the field of gas turbines.
Engineering services and the
production facility will play a key role
in the growth of service business,
involving amongst other things the
systematic acquisition and
internalisation of know-how regarding
technologies in which Ansaldo has
little experience.
Luigi Di Pasquale, Alberto Torre,
Giorgio Macciò and Loris Falavigna,
respectively in charge of engineering
for gas turbines, steam turbines,
generators and I&C, then went on to
describe the new packages available
to service customers.
Significant investments are already
being made in the gas turbine sector,
where the service division is involved
in Class F upgrades and life extension
projects.
In the field of steam turbines, Ansaldo
Energia has built up a significant body
of upgrade know-how, completing
major projects in Italy and elsewhere,
and it now needs to focus on
exporting this experience.
The reverse engineering programmes
look even more promising,
representing an excellent opportunity
to extend the already broad base of
know-how possessed by Ansaldo.
These programmes, which have
already commenced in the generator
area, will be consistently extended to
all technology sectors.
There are also favourable conditions in
I&C, with opportunities for Ansaldo
Energia to upgrade numerous inservice
control systems which are
often obsolete, based on analogue
technology or which in some cases do
not comply with current legislation.
Versatile new remote monitoring and
diagnostics services are also available
to Ansaldo Energia customers. Angelo
Arnaldi, the manager of service
engineering, illustrated the new
integrated prevention, prediction and
diagnostics systems in great detail. He
also presented the remote expert
centre, which is available 24/7 to
improve flexibility and satisfy
customer needs even more
comprehensively.
Customer proximity and facilitating
access to Ansaldo Energia resources
still further is a shared objective for the
entire company. Commercially
speaking, the company is ramping up
its local presence in all regions.
Gianni Carravieri for Italy, Marco
Squadrone for AAE (America, Africa
and Europe) and Jim Siler for MEA
(Middle East and Asia) described how
greater penetration and local
personnel, in addition to a more
flexible approach to markets
throughout the world (numerous Long
Term Agreements and Framework
Agreements are addressed precisely
to this), are being received positively
by customers, with strong order
growth and increasing interest in
service proposals.
The conference was closed by
Managing Director Giuseppe Zampini
and General Manager Claudio Nucci,
who stressed that the company
intends to continue investing in service
business in coming years, as this
improves the quality of services
offered to customers. While
expressing their satisfaction at the
excellent results achieved during 2005,
Zampini and Nucci spurred the service
team on to continue their good work,
guaranteeing the full support of the
entire Ansaldo Energia supply chain.
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