Atlas Copco wins major order for American geothermal industry

Atlas Copco’s U.S. subsidiary Mafi-Trench has won a multi-million dollar order for six turboexpander generators from Enel North America, Inc. The generators will help drive environment-friendly geothermal power plants, producing enough energy to power a medium-sized city.

 The order is the largest ever for Mafi-Trench Company LLC, which was acquired by Atlas Copco in July 2007 and is now part of the company’s Gas and Process division. Mafi-Trench has supplied turboexpanders to the gas processing, petrochemical and power recovery markets for three decades.

“We see great potential in Mafi-Trench’s products for customers in the renewable energy markets, and for the geothermal industry in particular,”says Ronnie Leten, President of Atlas Copco’s Compressor Technique Business Area. “This is clearly a future growth market for Atlas Copco and we are proud to get this order.”

Enel has ordered the machines, with a combined capacity of 84 000 KW, to be used at the Stillwater and Salt Wells geothermal power plants in Nevada, USA. A growing business worldwide, the geothermal industry produces reliable and clean electric power by tapping wells of natural steam or hot water, converting it to electricity with machinery such as Mafi-Trench’s turboexpanders.

Enel is one of Europe’s largest utility companies, with headquarters in Italy and operations in over 16 countries.   Enel is a global leader in renewable energy generation with over 19 000 MW of installed capacity. The Enel North America subsidiary works exclusively on renewable energy projects.