Power and energy

The design and manufacture of electric power equipment, the one electrotechnology in which Europe could gain worldwide dominance by the end of the century, is examined. All three power-equipment categories-generation, transmission, and distribution-are involved. Europeans already lead in the production of extra-high-voltage (EHV) circuit breakers, high-voltage, direct-current (HVDC) equipment, and hydroelectric turbines. More recently, they have entered world markets for photovoltaics, nuclear generation equipment and services, combined-cycle generating plants, and energy storage. Currently, a spate of mergers and acquisitions is pushing the larger European companies in the field toward a continental stance. Both ABB (Asea Brown Boveri Ltd.), a giant created by a Swedish-Swiss merger, and Siemens, in Munich, have excellent lines of sulfur-hexafluoride and other EHV circuit breakers. ABB and Siemens are also strong suppliers of large power transformers and turbines.<>