About 10:30 this morning, global vendor powerhouse ABB announced a new project---not a new bit of software, not an updated FACTS system, but an investment. ABB is building a cable factory. It will construct this new factory in the United States to manufacture high-voltage land cables for power transmission.
Construct. Build. Goodness, it’s all so very hardware. These days, we mostly hear about software and intelligent doodads.This new and shiny cable plant will whip up cables for use in both AC and DC applications, and ABB will invest approximately $90 million in the new manufacturing facility, which is expected to employ around 100 people and open in 2012. That's a lot of cash for the infrastructure side of power.
This announcement was also made live by Enrique Santacana, president and CEO of ABB Inc. in North America, at the ABB Automation & Power World conference and exhibition, ABB’s customer event held this year in Houston, Texas, to a room full of industry press who were almost collectively surprised.
“We see a strong demand growth in this type of technology,” Santacana stated after the announcement.
With the world looking to connect growing renewable load centers farther and farther from the customer, this investment is incredibly timely. While others may concentrate on the bells and whistles side of the smart grid, leave it to ABB to incorporate the hardware side of this growth into their long-term investment decisions. It’s a smart move, giving ABB a both-sides-of-the-aisle future when it comes to the smart grid.
ABB CTO Peter Terwiesch sat down with me at ABB’s Automation & Power World to discuss the decision. He was the first to apply the word “balance” to ABB’s decision, but it fits perfectly.
“Suddenly, there are solutions to connect renewables that are economically and technically possible that weren’t 10 years ago,” he said. The industry has the smarts to move forward, but is lacking a bit of muscle, he noted. Those two things must go hand-in-hand.
Termiesch added, “If those are the two ingredients you need, doing both is natural, an evolution. We thought it was time to put our money where our thought processes are.”
Hence, that cable manufacturing plant, a bit of smart grid muscle on the horizon, courtesy of ABB.
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