Press archive 2005

The foundation stone laying ceremony by the operator's personnel officially marks the start of construction for extending the Matra power plant. In February of this year, Babcock-Hitachi Europe GmbH (BHE) received the order to extend the Matra lignite-fired power plant from Matra Kraftwerk AG based in Visonta, Hungary. Together with colleagues from Matra AG and its parent RWE Power, BHE engineers then developed and planned the details of the plant and drafted the documents needed for official approval purposes. BHE will be supplying two turn-key gas turbine systems. This will raise the capacity of the Matra power plant by 82 megawatts. At the same time, the efficiency of Units 4 and 5 of the power plant will be substantially raised. At the heart of both of them are two Hitachi H-25 gas turbines/generator sets.

In an address at the foundation stone laying ceremony, Klaus J. Schmitz, the BHE Managing Director, thanked their customers for the trust shown and stressed the strategic importance of the power plant extension for the Oberhausen company. "The contract award has allowed us to continue the successful cooperation undertaken in all good faith for many years and to make a contribution to improving the commercial and environmental parameters for this power plant site." In his address, Managing Director Schmitz also emphasized the special significance of the Hungarian market for BHE. "We also want to reveal our operating effectiveness here in future both by improving the existing power plants through, for instance, CO2 reduction and efficiency enhancement as well as by constructing new plants fired with gas or coal." That was why, according to Schmitz, BHE wanted the Matra project to be handled smoothly so as to leave behind a positive impression and provide proof of the operating effectiveness of both the company and the Hitachi turbine.

The Babcock-Hitachi Europe scope of supply includes concept and final planning, supply and erection of the components, quality assurance management and system commissioning. A long-term technical service contract for the gas turbines is also part of the contract. Apart from a greater capacity, the two upstream systems starting commercial operations at the end of 2006 and the start of 2007 provide Matra Kraftwerk AG with a further advantage. Controllability of the power plants, which generate electricity for base load requirements, will be significantly increased. This will allow the operator to react much more flexibly to electricity market demands.

Print press release

Tetsuo Mimura, Chief Executive Officer of the Board of Directors from the start of Babcock-Hitachi Europe GmbH (BHE) in the spring of 2003, is bringing his extensive track record in a senior position to the Babcock-Hitachi K.K. (BHK) core location in Kure (Japan) as from 1 September. As successor, Katsuya Shigehiro has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Board of Directors of BHE with effect from 1 September. To date he has been Member of the Board of Directors of BHK, the Japanese parent company of BHE. The BHE management has thanked Tetsuo Mimura for his substantial services to the company. Tetsuo Mimura's contribution was enormously important for  integration of the company into the Hitachi Group and BHE's successful development.

Print press release

The Board of Directors and Works Council yesterday again welcomed six apprentices at the start of their training at Babcock-Hitachi Europe GmbH (BHE). BHE resumed apprenticeship training last year. "Along with the 50 new regular appointments this year, this is – for us - an important contribution in securing our company's future in view of the positive trend in new power plant construction," commented BHE Managing Director Klaus J. Schmitz on the commitment. After a "warm welcome", the Board of Directors, Works Council and Human Resources Department briefly presented the company to the trainees at the start of their first working day. Schmitz urged the newcomers to ask lots of questions and also to enquire into what had been brought down over the generations. He referred to the internal ongoing training schemes and stressed that not only technical knowledge but also good written and verbal English was vital in an international company like BHE. It is planned to take on six more trainee apprentices next year in view of the company's favorable prospects.

Following the official welcome, the trainee apprentices then got to know the instructors, training representatives and other important people to turn to, who would all be monitoring them throughout their training. The instructors and training representatives are there to help the trainees and support them during their work in the operating departments. A walk round the company followed the initial getting-to-know-each other session. After lunch together in the canteen, the trainee apprentices got to know a little more about the operating departments where they will start work. Their first working day at BHE  finished with a feedback talk in the Human Resources Department. 

Print press release

Fascination surrounding power plant engineering: View from the 186 meter high boiler house across the Lower Rhine lignite mining area. At the invitation of Babcock-Hitachi Europe, a good dozen students from RWTH Aachen (engineering university) had come to the RWE power plant at Niederaußem for on-the-spot information about modern and resources-saving energy generation  "Made in Germany“. "The fascination of experiencing power plant engineering live attracts young people from the universities again and again", something that Ramona Weers, BHE personnel assistant, knows all too well. BHE, which cooperates in furthering tomorrow's recruits with both RWTH Aachen and other universities in the Ruhr, provides these kind of excursions especially for up-and-coming energy and power plant engineers. "On the one hand we want to make it clear to students what great chances traditional university courses offer," explains Ramona Weers. "On the other hand, of course, we want to introduce ourselves to students as early as possible so as to recruit suitable candidates for internships, dissertation work or even engage junior managers.“ The concept is working: some of the approximately 50 new appointments at BHE this year were down to BHE university activities.

Print press release

Babcock-Hitachi Europe GmbH (BHE) has received an order to build a gas-fired power plant in Hungary. The order is worth approx. EUR 40 million. The modern, ecologically compatible combined-cycle plant – producing power and heat – will be built near Nyíregyháza, which is a town with a population of some 115,000 in the north east of the country. The customer is the NYKCE operator company – an E.ON Group subsidiary. The plant with an electrical output of around 50 megawatts is to be set up on an existing power plant site of E.ON Hungária. Aside from power generation, the plant will also supply district heating for Nyíregyháza and process steam for industry customers. The Nyíregyháza will be built in just 20 months and feeding power into the national grid as early as January 2007.

The order includes overall planning, supply and assembly of all components, quality assurance and plant commissioning. The heart is the Hitachi H-25 gas turbine. A long-term contract for the upkeep of the gas turbine has been finalized with Hitachi Europe GmbH, which is also located in Oberhausen. BHE had received a similar-sized order from Hungary in April of this year. The Hitachi gas turbines were included in the scope of delivery as well.

For Klaus J. Schmitz, member of the BHE board of directors, this renewed order from Hungary proves that the company's strategy of intensively cultivating the markets in south-east Europe is the right one. He also said that the order afforded proof of the effective competitiveness of the combination of Hitachi gas turbines and experienced BHE Oberhausen experts, who are well aware of operating conditions in European power plants. "We can", according to Schmitz, "provide our customers with a full integrated solution from one source and thus enjoy benefits."

Print press release

Babcock Hitachi Europe (BHE) has recently welcomed important visitors from Matra in Hungary. In the spring of this year BHE obtained the order to extend and modernize Units 4 and 5 of the Mátra power plant in Hungary. The order value for the gas turbine system is just under EUR 40m. The Mátra power plant is situated 100 km to the east of Budapest. After contract award, Kraftwerk Mátra AG, the BHE customer, applied for building approval for the project. It was important and necessary under the approval procedure for the mayor, notaries and public authority staff to pay a visit to a similar plant in Germany. Stadtwerke Wuppertal GmbH then made it possible for a Hungarian group of visitors to look round the gas turbine system being presently built – one in which BHE is a participator. The Hungarian visitors and Mátra AG engineers were very interested in construction and environmental protection matters. These were gone into in detail by the BHE engineers present and the municipal utility specialists.

The extensive knowledge won and information on the gas turbine system mark another milestone in obtaining building approval of the system at the Mátra power plant. According to György Ludányii of Mátra Kraftwerk AG building approval from the public authorities should be on hand at the beginning of July. Babcock-Hitachi Europe engineers are even now preparing the final planning so that building can begin straightaway in October 2005 once the Hungarian authorities have issued the approval.

Print press release

Babcock-Hitachi Europe GmbH (BHE) has received the order to extend the Matra lignite-fired power plant from Matra Kraftwerk AG, with head offices in Visonta, Hungary. The order is worth around EUR 40m. BHE will be supplying two turn-key gas turbine systems. This will raise the capacity of the Matra power plant by 82 megawatts. Currently five lignite-fired units at Matra generate electricity; total capacity is in the order of 836 megawatts. The power plant lies at the foot of the Matra mountains near Gyöngyös, 100 kms north-east of Budapest.

The main equipment of both systems are two Hitachi H-25 gas turbines/generator sets, which will be supplied by Hitachi, Ltd. The order also includes concept and final planning, supply and erection of the components, quality assurance management and system commissioning.  For Klaus-Dieter Rennert, Chief Operating Officer of the BHE board of directors, "the contract award reflects well on the competitiveness of the Hitachi gas turbines in the wake of operating condition optimization in European power plants by experienced Oberhausen BHE specialists.“ Rennert went on to say that this order was a good example of the excellent cooperation with the Hitachi group to provide an integrated solution for customer. "Our knowledge of customer needs in Europe is of enormous help," says the managing director, "in getting across the product benefits of technology to the customer."

Apart from a greater capacity, the two upstream systems starting commercial operations at the end of 2006 and the start of 2007 provide Matra Kraftwerk AG with a further advantage. There will be a substantial increase in controllability of the power plants –plant that generate electricity for base load requirements. Consequently, the operator can react considerably more flexible to electricity market demands. And there is also something positive for the environment: both systems will lower specific CO2 emissions of the two lignite-fired units by some 10%.

Print press release

Babcock-Hitachi Europe GmbH (BHE) and the Japanese BHK sister company, which also has a branch in Oberhausen, have now booked new orders worth just under EUR 70m. Client is the parent company Hitachi Ltd., which received end of March six orders for the installation of Flue Gas Desulphurisation Plants (FGD) in Spain and Portugal. Hitachi’s contract is worth approximately 90 Million Euros. This is the first full turnkey FGD order for Hitachi in Western Europe. BHE and BHK will design and supply the FGDs for Portugal and Spain.

The contract follows an EU directive which has set emission value limits for sulphur oxide (SOx), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and dust, and will be applied from 1 January 2008. Utilities are required to take appropriate measures to reduce emissions from new and existing power stations. One such measure is to install a SOx removal system (FGD) and Hitachi’s FGD system will remove more than 90% of SOx from emissions.

The six FGDs are for Abono II (Spain/556MW), Soto III (Spain/350MW), and Sines I-IV (Portugal/314MW, 4 Units). Following installation, commercial operations at the power stations will start to be rolled out from August 2007.

The orders are from Spanish electricity company, Hidroelectrica del Cantabrico, S.A. and from Portuguese electricity company, Companhia Portuguesa de Produção de Electricidade, S.A. of the Energias de Portugal (EdP) Group with a consortium partner, Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios, S.A. These new orders follow a deal with Poland’s Kozienice Power Plant FGD (200MW 4 Sets) awarded in June 2004.

Mr. Shigeharu Mano, President & Chief Executive Officer of Power Systems Group, Hitachi, Ltd., said: “Our success in winning these mandates is based on a combination of our state-of-the-art technology which delivers high efficiency, reliability and availability, and experienced professionals working within a flexible organisational structure, utilising our group company, Babcock-Hitachi Europe GmbH. We are committed to expanding our presence in this market by providing high quality and relevant environmental products. Our proven track record and worldwide experience of building turnkey power generation facilities make Hitachi a leading total solution provider to meet the industry’s growing need to address power generation and environmental protection.”

BHE is also involved in building two new gas-fired power plants in Spain. BHE is supplying all the engineering for „Cas Tresorer“ on Mallorca and „Barranco II“ on  Gran Canaria. Each of the plants has a 220 MW capacity. The scope of supply also includes commissioning both of them. The customer is Duro Felguera, which is constructing the two power plants for Endesa, the Spanish energy provider.

Print press release

Handing over the checks

Just as last year Babcock-Hitachi Europe GmbH (BHE) again donated a sum, all told, of EUR 6,000 to three relief agencies. In addition, works council and management handed over EUR 5,000. Originally around EUR 2,500 had been donated by the BHE workforce for the flood victims in South-East Asia; this was then doubled by the management to a round figure.

Works Council Chairman Wolfgang Ringelband was delighted with the generous response from the BHE workforce. „The ocean quake resulted in well over 100,000 deaths and deprived millions of people of their livelihood. It is our responsibility in the industrialized countries to do everything possible to give assistance." Also for Klaus-Dieter Rennert, Deputy Chief Executive of the BHE Board of Directors, this commitment is both self-evident and one that gladly taken up. "Once the extent of the disaster was apparent, management also wanted to help in reconstruction." Moreover, welfare commitment is an integral part of the corporate culture of the Japanese Hitachi Group. A company magazine regularly reports on the charitable work of the globally active Group and its subsidiaries.

The quake with its terrible consequences could not be foreseen last fall as the donation campaign for "Tafel Oberhausen", "Friedensdorf International" und "Kinderdorf Rio" was decided on. „This year we again dispensed with Christmas gifts for our business associates, preferring to donate to charitable agencies instead – something in the interest of our customers". This was the background to the campaign as explained by Managing Director Rennert. In view of the disaster in South-East Asia, BHE wanted to follow the call of Federal German President Horst Köhler to continue to give donations to charitable organizations not operating in the region and not to just favor the flood victims.

The three donation checks were handed over yesterday at the firm's head offices on the Duisburger Strasse as part of the „Oberhausen New Year's Brunch at BHE“. Just as last year Federal and state government politicians from Berlin and Düsseldorf, representatives of the Federal German and "Land" governments as well as local politicians from Düsseldorf were informed about the successful trend in business at the New Year's Reception. Each of the representatives of "Tafel Oberhausen", „Friedensdorf International" and "Kinderdorf Rio" received a check for EUR 2,000. The separate contribution for the tidal flood victims went to Friedensdorf International – an organization which has transported aid into South-East Asia several times over the past few weeks. BHE sister company Hitachi Europe – at home on the Duisburger Strasse in Oberhausen as well as in Düsseldorf – similarly donated EUR 5,000 for the flood victims.

Print press release