Pratt & Whitney sells turbine business to Mitsubishi
PureCycle unit of Pratt & Whitney on site in Reno, Nevada 2009 (source: flickr/ ThinkGeoEnergy, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
12 Dec 2012
In a surprise move announced today, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has bought the turbine business of Pratt & Whitney. This likely includes the Italian subsidiary of Pratt & Whitney, Turboden.
Streamlining its business portfolio, Pratt & Whitney (subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.) is selling its turbine business to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
While no details have been made available, it is expected that the deal is to close in the second quarter of 2013.
Pratt & Whitney – with a focus on airplane engine technology, had been applying its experience to industrial gas turbines, which use heat from geothermal or other heat sources to vaporize a fluid with a lower boiling point (so essentially binary power).
In 2009, Pratt & Whitney bought Italian ORC turbine company Turboden, as reported by ThinkGeoEnergy then.
Generally with acquisitions like this, it is hard to see how this will effect business. But since Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has been focusing on large scale flash turbines for the geothermal industry, this acquisition strategically makes sense if it wants to cover the smaller scale binary market as well.
ThinkGeoEnergy will try to follow up and explore what implications this will have to the Pratt & Whitney business, as well as its subsidiary in Italy, Turboden.
Source: San Francisco Gate
