EVERY WEEKDAY FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR, TED MAGAZINE IS COUNTING DOWN THE TOP 20 STORIES OF 2018. BELOW, THE #18 MOST-VIEWED STORY OF THE YEAR, ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCTOBER 4, 2018.
Siemens has announced plans to acquire Massachusetts-based Russelectric®, a leading U.S. manufacturer of power control systems including paralleling switchgear and automatic transfer switches. The acquisition will bring together the companies’ complementary advanced electrical power portfolios and service organizations to help critical markets such as data centers, public infrastructure, and healthcare address the growing need to improve power reliability, security, and affordability.
This strategic investment also strengthens Siemens’ commitment to the U.S., the company’s largest market in the world. Russelectric’s approximately 400 employees across its headquarters and manufacturing facility in Hingham, Massachusetts and manufacturing and training hub in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma will be added to Siemens’ existing U.S. footprint of over 50 manufacturing, R&D and digital hubs, and its 50,000 U.S. employee base.
“As the energy landscape continues to shift, the successful operation of critical facilities more than ever requires reliable, affordable and sustainable power”, said Barry Powell, Vice President and Business Unit Head, Siemens Low Voltage & Products, North America. “With this acquisition, we bring together Siemens’ expertise and experience in the low voltage power market with Russelectric’s complementary high-quality energy infrastructure portfolio to provide technologies that ensure these critical installations receive uninterrupted, secure power.”
“Russelectric has built a solid reputation over the years based on highly engineered solutions of top-quality products and an always-take-care-of-the-customer mindset. Those were the guiding values instilled by our founder, Raymond G. Russell, and these are the same values that we saw in Siemens,” said Dorian Alexandrescu, Russelectric President and CEO. “This acquisition will complement our portfolio in the mission-critical, high-quality U.S. energy infrastructure industry, help us leverage Siemens’ global footprint, and ultimately support our customers with a much stronger product and services portfolio.”
“This investment signifies our global commitment to the U.S. power infrastructure market and the technologies that place a premium on safe, reliable and affordable access to electrical energy,” said Andreas Matthé, Global CEO of Siemens Low Voltage & Products. “These two organizations bring complementary portfolios to critical power infrastructures that continue to evolve at a rapid pace, and together, the companies can create additional value for customers through an experienced workforce, extensive domain knowledge and complementary sales approach.”
Upon closing of the acquisition, subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions, Siemens will wholly-own Russelectric, which will operate as “Russelectric, A Siemens Business”. Closing is anticipated late 2018 to early 2019. Terms of this transaction are not disclosed.
Siemens also announced the acquisition of the specialized software company Electrocon International Inc. (EII) to uniquely enhance simulations of power grids and strengthen the company’s electrical digital twin efforts. EII, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, develops and markets CAPE (Computer-Aided Protection Engineering) software which focuses on the protection of electrical systems and enables detailed protection modeling for grid analysis and simulations. The CAPE software—designed for transmission and distribution systems in utilities, industry, and infrastructure—will help ensure the safe and reliable operation of large electricity grids.
The portfolio and experts of the U.S.-based technology company will complement Siemens’ leading Power System Simulation software suite (PSS®) to more precisely uncover conditions of potential protective device misoperation and resulting avoidable power outages. This capability will be a key feature to integrate renewable energy resources efficiently and to ensure reliable and efficient grid operation.
The addition of Electrocon’s software to Siemens existing suite of grid simulation planning tools will also further strengthen the company’s electrical digital twin efforts—the ability to build a digital representation of the grid and the major assets in it. The digital twin facilitates the simulation of all technical and economic aspects relevant for reliable, efficient and secure electrical system planning, operation & maintenance.
“The rising interconnection of traditional energy-using sectors such as e-mobility, buildings, industry and the growing importance of renewables and energy storage, requires high-quality data and powerful and efficient software. This acquisition strengthens our already leading portfolio in the area of Operational Software for Smart Infrastructure and the Electrical Digital Twin,” says Thomas Zimmermann, CEO, Siemens’ Business Unit Digital Grid.
Paul McGuire, President at Electrocon International, Inc., says: “This is a perfect fit which marries our unique expertise and long-standing customer relationship with expanded customer value by providing unmatched capabilities in the market.”
Closing of the transaction is expected to be effective October 2018. Both parties have agreed not to disclose financial details.
Tagged with 2018, top 20