Amid China's energy transition toward carbon neutrality, the world's leading power technology provider Hitachi Energy has been stepping up efforts to expand its presence in China, company executives said Thursday during a media briefing in Xiamen, Fujian province.

Over the 40 years of its development in China, the Switzerland-headquartered company has seen an increasing number of overseas orders while serving the local market with cutting-edge technologies, said James Zhao, executive vice president and region head for Greater China at Hitachi Energy, while attending the 25th anniversary event of the company's high-voltage switchgear manufacturing facility in Xiamen.

James Zhao, executive vice president and region head for Greater China at Hitachi Energy, attends a media briefing in Xiamen, Fujian province, Nov. 14, 2024. [Photo by Wang Wei/China.org.cn]

Zhao said the surging export business is largely due to global decarbonization efforts as well as its upgraded products and services, which are gaining recognition among a variety of customers from different countries and regions.

As part of the efforts to expand its production capacity, Hitachi Energy has rebuilt several of its factories in China since 2023, showcased by its new cutting-edge transformer factory in Chongqing, new capacitor and power-quality product factory in Xi'an, and new production base for high-voltage instrument transformers recently inaugurated in Suqian, Jiangsu province.

"A globally significant gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) and gas-insulated lines manufacturing base, our Xiamen factory now can even provide 1,200 kV GIS products, which was beyond our imagination 25 years ago," Zhao said. "So we're quite confident of the Chinese market, and also our technologies and products."

According to Su Bin, managing director of the high voltage products business unit for North Asia at Hitachi Energy, the company has taken a digital means to ensure a unified global production system. "All our switchgears, no matter whether produced in Xiamen, or in Switzerland, or in the United States, are held to the same standards from design to manufacturing. And we have introduced a digital passport system, so each equipment has its own ID," Su added.

Su Bin, managing director of the high voltage products business unit for North Asia at Hitachi Energy, attends a media briefing in Xiamen, Fujian province, Nov. 14, 2024. [Photo by Wang Wei/China.org.cn]

He noted that to meet the market demand for sustainable high-voltage switchgears at the transmission level in China, Hitachi Energy has launched the 550 kV EconiQ gas-insulated switchgear in Xiamen this year, the highest voltage level of its kind, which enables the phaseout of sulfur hexafluoride, a greenhouse gas. 

This will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of products and support grid decarbonization, he added.

Markus Heimbach, executive vice president and managing director of the high voltage products business unit at Hitachi Energy, said he was very proud of this technological breakthrough by the Chinese team and especially the team in Xiamen.

Markus Heimbach, executive vice president and managing director of the high voltage products business unit at Hitachi Energy, attends a media briefing in Xiamen, Fujian province, Nov. 14, 2024. [Photo by Wang Wei/China.org.cn]

"We started in the Chinese market as usual on the lower voltage 145 kV; however, the backbone of the Chinese transmission grid is 550 kV. The 550 kV is a higher voltage, and with a higher voltage, you can transmit more load to the grid. Then we developed just now this year a new gas insulated switchgear and dead tank breakers for the 550 kV.

"What makes me proud is that in the beginning, we brought the technology from Europe to China. But now we are as well using our bright minds in China to develop the technology for China, and as well for the world," he explained.

Heimbach mentioned that when Hitachi Energy started its journey in Xiamen 25 years ago, it focused solely on setting up a manufacturing base in China and developing the supply market. Now, however, the factory has gone far beyond that. "It has started to support our technology centers in Europe, mainly with new ideas and with new developments," he said.

Such technological breakthroughs will support China with the decarbonization of its electric grid and help the world move faster in the overall energy transition, he added.