Rolls-Royce yesterday said it had won orders potentially worth more than $500m (£253m) for its Trent 60 power generation engines in what is likely to be a major boost for the Scottish manufacturing sector.
The company's 2200 staff at Rolls' plant at Inchinnan in Renfrewshire make compressor blades and seals for all its Trent range, including those used for power generation.
A spokesman for Rolls-Royce yesterday told The Herald: "This is potentially very good news for Inchinnan, because all our manufacturing plants make parts that are common to many engines."
The group, which an-nounced the news yesterday at the Power-Gen Europe show in Milan, said that energy firms in eight countries had selected the Trent 60 power generation engine - including the UK, the US and New Caledonia in the South Pacific Ocean, as well as Russia, Hungary and the Czech Republic have confirmed reservations for 27 of the engines. Its orders from Russia, Hungary and the Czech Republic mark Rolls' first power generation engines to be sold into central Europe.
Two existing customers in Belgium and Australia have also ordered three more Trent 60s, the company said.
The largest single order of engine reservations - 10 in total - came from an energy generator in Baltimore, but Rolls declined to identify it.
Sir John Rose, the chief executive of Rolls-Royce group, last month noted at the company's annual meeting that high levels of activity in the oil and gas industry were benefiting the group's marine and energy businesses.
The spokesman added: "When all the reservations become firm contracts, the potential value of business at today's list prices exceeds $500m, including the orders from Belgium and Australia,"
Asked when the contracts were likely to be confirmed, he said: "These could be turned into firm orders very soon, possibly with the next few months."
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