Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) — Alstom SA, Europe’s second-largest
power-equipment maker, said it paid less than 50 million pounds
($79 million) in cash to buy ocean turbine maker Tidal
Generation Ltd. from Rolls-Royce Plc.
The acquisition, announced in September, was completed
today, Alstom said in a regulatory statement. Tidal Generation
will now be integrated into the French company and rebranded as
Alstom, Julien Pelcot, vice president of strategy at the
manufacturer’s renewable-power division, said by e-mail.
The purchase price is less than half the 130 million euros
($176 million) to be paid by DCNS SA for OpenHydro Group Ltd. in
a transaction announced Jan. 22. The deal gives Alstom access to
a 1-megawatt turbine at the European Marine Energy Center in
Orkney, Scotland, that Tidal Generation installed this month for
tests. Europe doesn’t yet operate commercial-scale tidal parks.
Alstom is adding marine-power assets to expand in renewable
generation as governments offer incentives for clean-energy
ventures. It bought 40 percent of AWS Ocean Energy Ltd. in 2011
and is working with U.K. utility SSE Plc to use wave-power
systems at a 200-megawatt project off northern Scotland. Alstom
also makes turbines for offshore wind farms.
Tidal Generation’s Orkney turbine will be tested for about
18 months to gather environmental and performance data, with a
view to installing multiple devices prior to full commercial
production, according to the Bristol, England-based company.
Alstom, based in Levallois-Perret, France, is Europe’s
largest power-equipment maker after Siemens AG. Siemens last
February agreed to buy the shares it didn’t already own in U.K.
tidal-technology developer Marine Current Turbines Ltd. The
purchase implied a valuation for the company of 18 million
pounds, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Louise Downing in London at
ldowning4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
