Instrumentation & Controls

Hitachi to change ABB Power Grids joint venture name, extend focus in e-mobility, digital

Hitachi, which acquired a controlling stake and merged with ABB’s power grid business a year ago, is going to fully take the name of the merged company and expand its direction in e-mobility and data centers.

Hitachi ABB Power Grids will become Hitachi Energy in October. Hitachi announced its controlling stake in the business two years ago and the Power Grids unit started operations July 2020.

The newly named company will remain headquartered in Zurich and offer services in smart grid and the high voltage direct current transmission sector. The new focus will tackle opportunities in areas like sustainable mobility, smart life and data center energy needs.

“To realize a sustainable society, the use of digital technology is becoming indispensable in all fields,” parent Hitachi President and COO Keiji Kojima said in a statement. “In the energy field, power grids are expected to be at the core of innovation since they have high affinity with digital technology, and I am confident that Hitachi Energy will lead this innovation. Hitachi will combine digital technologies such as Lumada with Hitachi Energy’s advanced energy technologies to provide innovative energy solutions that create social, environmental and economic values.”  

The path to reaching net-zero carbon goals globally by 2050 is narrow, the company release pointed out, and will require deep investments in infrastructure and deployment of all available clean energy and efficiency technologies in the digital realm. By 2030, Hitachi cited, the world economy may be 40 percent larger but need to consume seven percent less energy to be on track for the 2050 net-zero goal.

Hitachi owns an 80.1 percent stake in the new business, while ABB holds the balance. The 2020 deal was valued at almost $8 billion.