CGEE ALSTHOM

CGEE ALSTHOM was the electrical engineering and installation arm created in the early 1970s when Compagnie Générale d’Entreprises Électriques (CGEE) merged with the electrical divisions of Alsthom and SGE, in response to structural changes in the electrical installation market. CGEE itself had been founded in 1913 by Compagnie Générale d’Électricité (CGE) as a holding company for industrial operations and electricity companies, and was later renamed CGEE-Alstom in 1971. Within this lineage, CGEE ALSTHOM operated as a key vehicle for delivering electrical systems and infrastructure, building on CGE’s long-standing role in power generation, distribution engineering and turnkey projects, and extending Alsthom’s expertise in power equipment and industrial electromechanics into site-level installation and services. The company focused on electrical installation and related engineering for power plants, industrial facilities, transport and infrastructure, including work associated with France’s post‑war reconstruction and rural electrification, and later with the development of the nuclear industry. CGEE and then CGEE ALSTHOM expanded internationally, establishing a presence in South America, Africa and Portugal through trade and project work. Its activities encompassed the design and installation of control and automation systems and associated electronic modules for power plants, reflected in later references to “CGEE ALSTHOM” as an original brand on legacy control platforms and industrial modules now supported or refurbished by specialist service companies. In the 1980s the business sat within CGE’s broader industrial combine, alongside Alsthom and other subsidiaries, and in 1989, when CGE and the UK’s General Electric Company formed GEC Alsthom, CGEE-Alstom was renamed Cegelec. Cegelec subsequently evolved into Actemium within Vinci Energies, but CGEE ALSTHOM remains the historical link between CGE’s utility and industrial power engineering heritage and today’s multi‑local electrical engineering, nuclear, transport infrastructure and industrial services businesses.