Hitachi Energy has launched the European operations centre in Madrid that will now be responsible for coordinating highly complex international energy projects, and which will complement the work carried out from the Japanese company’s operations centres in India and Slovakia. Over the next four years, it will recruit 250 new employees, bringing the total to 300 specialists.

This new energy engineering hub will be run by multidisciplinary professionals, whose aim will be to help accelerate and scale up electrification in Europe. Among other things, they will lead projects related to power grid planning, the design of onshore and offshore substations, the integration of renewable energy, the connection of data centres to the grid and the deployment of power system stability technologies such as Statcom.

Confidence in Spain
The new teams’ work will cover disciplines such as power system studies, systems engineering, electromechanical design, automation and control, software, cybersecurity, BIM methodology, planning, procurement, logistics, quality and R&D. 

The company has chosen Madrid because of its confidence in Spain, where it has 1500 employees and several production centres. Other factors in the decision were the region’s strategic links with the main European markets, its technological, academic and R&D ecosystem, its competitive infrastructure and a quality of life that helps attract and retain highly qualified STEM professionals. 

A strategic market
The company’s Managing Director for Spain, Alfredo García-Borreguero, describes Spain as “a strategic market for Hitachi Energy”, explaining, “With this new centre in Madrid, we are strengthening our engineering capacity in Europe and our commitment to local talent, at a time when power grids are essential for integrating renewables, electrifying the economy and ensuring a more secure, flexible and sustainable supply. The centre is already involved in flagship projects such as East Anglia 1 North, an offshore wind project in the United Kingdom; four EconiQ 420 kV SF₆-free substations in Norway; and a Statcom system to help stabilise South Africa’s transmission network.”

The Director of the new centre, Javier Pata, believes that Madrid “meets the necessary conditions to become a benchmark European hub for energy engineering: qualified talent, links to the main European markets and a strong technological and academic ecosystem. From this centre, we want to contribute to the advancement of electrification with the speed, quality and reliability required by the energy transition.” 

^{Photo: Hitachi Energy}