Hitachi Energy will invest an additional $4.5 billion by 2027 to enhance the electricity grid and accelerate the clean energy transition. This substantial investment aims to meet the growing demand for secure and flexible grid infrastructure necessary to integrate renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.
The global tech company's order backlog has more than tripled to over $30 billion since 2020. In the past month alone, Hitachi Energy has signed key HVDC framework agreements with RTE in France, RWE in Germany, and Marinus Link in Australia. Additionally, the company secured a service contract with Pattern Energy in the US for the SunZia Transmission Project and announced the Sa.Co.I.3 interconnection between Italy and France.
On Friday, the Zurich-headquartered company revealed plans to more than double its new investments over the last three years in manufacturing, engineering, digital, R&D, and partnerships across all major markets from 2024 to 2027. This move complements its $1.5 billion investment announced in April to ramp up global transformer production.
Claudio Facchin, CEO of Hitachi Energy, emphasized the urgency of this investment:
"The world is in a race to transform energy systems. Technology is not the bottleneck and electrification is creating unprecedented demand for power grids systems combined with digital solutions and services. As the market leader, we are responding with an unprecedented level of investment, people, and innovation to meet that demand."
To achieve these goals, Hitachi Energy will deploy power electronics-based solutions, grid automation and software solutions, and services. The company will engineer and manufacture high-voltage direct current (HVDC) and high-voltage products.
Part of the investment includes approximately $330 million allocated across all product portfolios to expand and modernize its flagship factory in Ludvika and open a new campus in Vasteras, both in Sweden. The Ludvika factory, which produces transformers, high-voltage products, and HVDC systems, will be expanded by more than 30,000 square meters (322,917 square feet). This expansion will enable large transformer manufacturing to supply key HVDC projects. The new campus in Vasteras will accommodate 1,800 employees, including an R&D center and a production facility for grid automation. Hitachi Energy plans to increase its Swedish workforce by 2,000 people.
Source: electrek