Press
release
 
August 27, 2010
Voith Holding
Chancellor Merkel Visits Technology Company Voith: Hydroelectric Power an Essential Part of the Energy Mix

Heidenheim, August 27, 2010. Today’s stage of the "energy tour" by German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel brought her to Voith to find out about the state of the art in hydroelectric power. In the presence of the Economics Minister Rainer Brüderle, Baden-Württemberg Minister President Stefan Mappus and leading politicians from the region, Dr. Hubert Lienhard, President and CEO of Voith AG, set out the importance of hydropower for a forward-focused energy supply to the Chancellor.

During a tour of the high-tech research center of Brunnenmühle, Dr. Lienhard explained that today, hydroelectric power is the world’s greatest renewable energy source. Moreover, hydroelectric power with pumped storage is the only economically and technologically viable energy storage system for electrical power supply. This makes hydro power crucial for the cost-efficient expansion of other renewable forms of energy, such as wind and solar power, as it offers the only means of ensuring a steady, stable energy supply that is independent of the time of day and the weather.

"Without hydroelectric power, the ambitious energy policy goals of Germany cannot be attained," says Voith CEO Dr. Lienhard. “Besides hydroelectric energy generation, the combination of pumped storage and wind has a crucial role to play in the development of renewable energies in the future energy mix. Water has to be named in the same breath as wind and sun,” Dr. Lienhard goes on.

Voith Hydro, a division of the Voith Group, is one of the leading manufacturers for clean, climate friendly energy generation from water. This not only applies to traditional hydroelectric power generation, but to energy from the oceans as well. Headquartered in Heidenheim, Germany, the company is a full-line supplier of advanced hydro-electric equipment, technology, and services for hydroelectric plants. For more than hundred years, hydroelectric plants all over the world have been equipped with machines from Heidenheim. Today, more than 40,000 generators and turbines in production around the world have been installed by Voith Hydro.

Voith sets industry standards in the paper, energy, mobility and service markets. Founded in 1867 and with a workforce of 39,000 employees, sales worth EUR 5.1 billion and 280 locations worldwide, Voith is one of Europe’s largest family-owned businesses.

Fotos from the event are avaliable under: www.voith.com/german_chancellor
Claudia Strixner
Voith AG | Corporate Press Office
Tel +49 7321 37-3879 | Fax +49 7321 37-7107
E-Mail claudia.strixner@voith.com
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