Hitachi Energy has announced plans to invest $479 million to build a transformer insulation factory in London, Ontario to meet growing demand for data centres, green energy, and industrial development. Hitachi will be responsible for the bulk of the investment but will receive $50 million collectively from both the provincial and federal governments.
“All those investments are creating more demand for components, and transformers are a major element in the customer energy chain,” said Bruno Melles, CEO of Hitachi’s transformers business unit. “Because in every place where there is power generation and in every place where there is a connection, there is a transformer.”
The 21,000-square-meter facility will be the first of its kind in Canada and a first for Hitachi in the Americas to produce pressboard, a material made from paper pulp that is used to keep transformers cool. The Canadian market currently sources pressboard from Europe.
Project construction is expected to be complete by the end of 2028 and once operational, the facility will create approximately 100 permanent skilled jobs in the city, which is also home to Canduct, a manufacturer of insulation kits and components, which Hitachi acquired in June.
“To have a location that is very, very close to Canduct will allow a simplification of the supply in the value chain, a dramatic reduction of the risks connected to logistics, and then of course we can count on having access to fresh and clean water that is an integral element for the production of insulation material,” Melles said.
