Hitachi Energy to allocate USD 4.5bn more to advance expansion plans

Switzerland-based Hitachi Energy is stepping up its efforts to support the global energy transition with an additional USD-4.5-billion (EUR 4.14bn) investment package to improve and increase its offering of transformers, high-voltage direct current (HVDC) and high-voltage products and services by 2027.

The initiative, announced on Friday, is aimed at enhancing global research and development (R&D), engineering and manufacturing capacity, deployment of power electronics-based solutions, grid automation and software solutions, and services in line with the Hitachi Energy 2030 Plan, a press statement said.

The newly announced package doubles the investments made in the last three years and comes to complement a recently announced USD-1.5-billion investment plan targeting the expansion of the company’s global transformer production capacity in the next three years.

In addition to the billions-worth investment plant, Hitachi Energy also announced that it will allocate around USD 300 million in Sweden to expand and upgrade its flagship factory in Ludvika, which will see the addition of more than 30,000 square metres (322,917 sq ft), and to build a new campus in Vasteras that will accommodate 1,800 employees, including an R&D centre and a production facility for grid automation.

“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,” said CEO Claudio Facchin.

The announcement of the new investment plan comes shortly after Hitachi Energy and French shipyard company Chantiers de l'Atlantique were awarded a EUR-4.5-billion contract to build offshore direct current platforms and onshore converter stations for three offshore wind farms set to be installed off the coast of France. It also follows an HVDC order from German energy group RWE AG.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.920)

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