Vallourec provides increasingly integrated products and services to bioenergy producers and innovative low-carbon and renewable energy projects.
Biomass and nuclear power plants, geothermal wells, photovoltaic panels, offshore wind turbines, and hydrogen refueling stations are among the various projects benefiting from our expertise in tubular solutions.
Geothermal wells extract heat in the form of water or steam to generate electricity or feed district heating. A low-cost, renewable energy, geothermal is a rapidly growing sector but operators are facing numerous challenges to capitalize the natural resource efficiently.
With PREON® marine, Vallourec is changing the way offshore wind turbines are installed. This innovative technology, using elements constructed from hot rolled MSH sections, is a cost competitive, low-noise installation method for offshore wind farm foundations. Our environmentally-friendly solution protects the seabed and significantly reduces underwater noise.
For over 45 years, Vallourec has offered products and expertise to the nuclear power industry, providing safe, durable tubes to plants around the world. Benefitting from a unique track record, the Group is a trusted partner in nuclear power, having provided reliable tubular solutions to 50+ nuclear sites worldwide.
Steel tubes in a wide range of materials and dimensions are among the key components of nuclear power plants. They need to withstand extreme conditions during use, including high pressures and temperatures, and meet the highest safety standards.
Vallourec has been providing tubular solutions for the primary circuits of pressurized water reactors since 1974. Our tubular products in nickel alloys and stainless steels offer superior quality, for a very demanding industry.
As a leading producer of tubes, we are heavily involved in providing utilities with highly safe and quality products to ensure long-lasting plant operations.
Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electrical energy. This can be achieved directly with photovoltaic panels, or indirectly with solar power plants that make use of global solar irradiation.
Vallourec promotes renewable energies by designing tubes for photovoltaic panels and taking part in innovative projects that develop solar power.
Quality tubes from Vallourec are integrated into the design of photovoltaic panels worldwide: solar trackers, car park solar shade structures, agricultural photovoltaic panels and rooftop solar panels.
Concentrated solar power plants (CSP) feature another type of indirect solar power generation. They function similarly to fossil-fueled power plants: hot steam is generated, driving a steam turbine that produces electricity. In CSP power plants, the heat source is the sun. Lenses and mirrors concentrate the sun’s rays on an absorber that heats up a heat-carrying medium.
Vallourec is currently participating in RAISELIFE, a project funded by the EU to extend the lifetime of materials for concentrated solar power plants.
Vallourec provides tubes for biomass, waste-to-energy and biofuel projects in order to produce renewable energy.
Biomass consists of organic matter from plant and animal origins. Power plants can use biomass instead of conventional fuels as an energy source in order to produce electricity. They can also produce energy by burning industrial waste, in a transformation process called waste-to-energy.
Biofuels are fuels derived from biomass and can be used as a substitute for conventional fuels.
Vallourec supplies biomass power plants with tubes, from simple grades (grade A and B) to alloy steels (16Mo3, T4), manufactured in our factories in Europe and Brazil.
Vallourec is constantly exploring new ways to use its expertise to promote renewable and low-carbon energy sources and reduce carbon emissions.
One new business area is hydrogen. Vallourec manufactures tubes for piston accumulators to be used in hydrogen refueling stations.
Vallourec also draws on its know-how in the production of thick-walled large tubes for storing compressed and liquid gas in order to create steel gas cylinders for transporting hydrogen. Industrially produced hydrogen must be transported from the hydrogen plant directly to individual consumption points accumulators that must withstand high pressures.
Vallourec is also working on solutions for carbon capture and storage. (CCUS).