Sector
Fabrication, pipework, machining of large parts, structures and maintenance: what energy players, from nuclear to renewables, are looking for, and how to prepare your request.
The energy sector brings together very different worlds: nuclear, thermal and hydro power generation, wind and solar, electricity grids, hydrogen, oil, gas and biogas. What they have in common is safety: this equipment contains pressurised fluids, heat or voltage, and a failure can have serious consequences for people and the environment.
Regulation therefore weighs more heavily here than elsewhere. Directive 2014/68/EU governs pressure equipment, Directive 2014/34/EU covers equipment intended for explosive atmospheres, and nuclear has its own design and manufacturing rules, such as the RCC-M code. Parts are often large and thick, in carbon steel, stainless steel or nickel alloy, with a large share of fabrication, non-destructive testing and pressure tests.
The market is not limited to major programmes: maintenance and planned outages, spare parts for legacy equipment, tooling, wind turbine and solar panel structures, hydrogen. These needs are open to fabrication, machining and maintenance workshops, provided the applicable standard is stated clearly.
Standards, regulations and practices that buyers expect from their subcontractors.
Applicable above 0.5 bar maximum pressure, it classifies equipment into categories I to IV according to pressure, volume and fluid, and requires conformity assessment and CE marking. From category II, welders and welding procedures are approved by a competent third party.
Welders (EN ISO 9606) and welding procedures (EN ISO 15614) are qualified, the workshop applies EN ISO 3834 for the quality of fusion welding, and non-destructive testing is carried out by certified personnel (EN ISO 9712). Acceptance criteria are given on the drawing.
Mechanical components of pressurised water reactors are designed and manufactured to the RCC-M code, published by AFCEN; RCC-MRx covers other installations, such as research reactors. The operator oversees its external contractors: qualifications, audits, enhanced traceability.
Equipment intended for areas at risk of explosion falls under Directive 2014/34/EU (ATEX). Outdoor or marine structures are protected against corrosion to ISO 12944, and hydrogen requires materials suited to the risk of embrittlement.
Quality assurance plan, hold points, 3.1 or 3.2 material certificates, hydrostatic test, inspection records, end-of-manufacturing file: the proof is part of the product, and third-party inspection must be built into the schedule.
Each skill has its own detailed page: services, materials, price factors.
The heart of the sector: welded tanks, pipework, heat exchangers and structures in carbon steel, stainless steel or nickel alloy, by qualified welders and procedures.
Machining of large parts: large-diameter turning, boring, milling of flanges and bodies, often from forged or cast blanks.
Plasma, laser or waterjet cutting of thick plate, rolling, forming and bending for shells and structures, within the limits of the workshop’s machinery.
Non-destructive testing (dye penetrant, magnetic particle, ultrasonic, radiographic), dimensional inspection of large assemblies, hydrostatic tests.
Hot-dip galvanising, painting to ISO 12944 and stress-relief heat treatments for structures exposed to the weather or to marine corrosion.
On-site and workshop maintenance: planned outages, component replacement, overhaul of pumps, valves and mechanical units, by authorised teams.
Directive 2014/68/EU, known as the PED, governs the design, manufacture and placing on the market of pressure equipment whose maximum allowable pressure exceeds 0.5 bar. It is sorted into categories I to IV, IV being the most demanding, according to pressure, volume or nominal size and fluid group. The higher the category, the more thorough the conformity assessment, with a notified body from category II. Low-risk equipment falls under sound engineering practice, without CE marking.
The manufacturer within the meaning of the directive is whoever places the equipment on the market under their own name: they answer for conformity. The subcontractor who welds a shell or machines a flange contributes to it, but the contract must specify who does what: design, material procurement, qualification of welders and welding procedures, inspections, testing, documentation.
Construction codes, such as EN 13445 for vessels, EN 13480 for piping or CODAP, provide the calculation and manufacturing rules. To size the blank, the weight calculator gives an order of magnitude; for welding, our guide to TIG, MIG and MAG processes covers the basics.
In nuclear, manufacturing a component is not just a matter of industrial quality: it forms part of a safety demonstration. Mechanical components of pressurised water reactors follow the RCC-M rules, and nuclear pressure equipment has its own regulations. The operator of a basic nuclear installation must oversee the external contractors who carry out activities important for protection: it therefore imposes qualification, traceability and audit requirements on its suppliers, and in turn on their subcontractors.
A workshop aiming at safety-classified nuclear work must be qualified by the buyer, providing proof of its processes, its welders, its inspections and its control of its own subcontractors. This qualification takes time and investment: it is aimed at workshops already used to documentation requirements. Many activities, however, fall outside this scope: conventional maintenance, tooling, structures, non-safety-classified equipment. Specify the real level of requirements for your part and see the welding and fabrication page.
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The directive does not require a company certificate from the subcontractor as such, but it does require welding procedures and welders to be approved by a competent third party from category II. Depending on the customer, the workshop also applies EN ISO 3834 or holds ISO 9001.
It is a design and construction code for mechanical equipment in the nuclear islands of pressurised water reactors, published by AFCEN. It sets rules for materials, welding, inspection and documentation. To apply it, the workshop is qualified by its buyer, on the basis of its processes, its personnel and its organisation.
These inspection certificates are defined by EN 10204. The 3.1 is issued by the material producer, through a representative independent of manufacturing, with the test results. The 3.2 is also validated by an inspector independent of the producer, for example one from the customer or a third-party body. State the type expected in your project request.
No. Wind turbine, solar panel or grid structures fall under other standards: EN 1090 for the execution of steel structures, ISO 12944 for corrosion protection, the EN 61439 series for electrical cabinets. Requirements are generally more accessible, but remain real.
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