Hydro-Québec - an integrated electrical company whose sole stakeholder is the Government of Québec - has chosen IBM and Dassault Systèmes' product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions for the design of new hydroelectric projects. Hydro-Québec is the first owner-operator in the hydroelectric industry to use digital 3D design technology for the development of its future facilities.

Hydro-Québec's Equipment Division will be responsible for the deployment of Catia V5 and Smarteam, IBM PLM solutions developed by Dassault Systèmes. Hydro-Québec will use Catia V5 to design products, and Smarteam to manage engineering data developed by the company and its partners.

Hydro-Québec produces, transports and distributes almost all the electricity consumed in Québec. Over 96% of the power it generates is hydroelectric. Its generating fleet has a total installed capacity of 33 616 MW, which makes it one of the most important renewable energy producers in North America. The company also has the most extensive transmission system in North America, consisting of 32 530 km of high-voltage power lines and 106 568 km of distribution lines. Hydro-Québec provides electricity to more than 3,6 million Québec customers.

With the PLM solutions, Hydro-Québec will be able to better integrate data from multiple disciplines, including mechanical equipment, fluid and electrical systems, as well as concrete and steel structures, in a single development environment. Hydro-Québec's PLM environment will run on IBM IntelliStation workstations and on IBM eServer xSeries servers.

"With Catia and Smarteam solutions, Hydro-Québec will be able to collaborate more effectively with its partners and expedite the resolution of problems that can occur during the project development stage, from analysis and optimisation of variants to engineering validation respecting design intent," says Jean-Paul Rigg, manager, production engineering at Hydro-Québec's equipment division. "Throughout an 18-month assessment period, we found that the unique performance of these solutions would enable us to meet shorter deadlines, reach our quality, design and development goals and control our costs."

"Using IBM PLM solutions is a key breakthrough for Hydro-Québec, the hydroelectric industry, and the industrial equipment industry in general," says Walter Donaldson, vice president, PLM Americas. "We are very excited about participating in the development of this industry that is adopting PLM solutions. The integrated multidisciplinary environment of our PLM solutions will allow Hydro-Québec to collaborate better with its partners. The agreement reached with Hydro-Québec once again confirms that IBM PLM can really help our customers respond to the new challenges."

"The process, power, and petroleum industry is the newest sector to benefit from V5 PLM," adds Etienne Droit, executive vice president sales and services, Dassault Systèmes. "As with companies in the shipbuilding and aerospace industries before it, Hydro-Québec will benefit from these tools and be able to focus on innovation with the collaborative design capabilities of our PLM solutions."

For more information contact Igal Filipovski, CDC, 011 786 3516, igal@cdcza.co.za, www.cdcza.co.za, www.ibm.com, www.3ds.com