Eaton’s new innovation center to focus on DER R&D

Intelligent power management company Eaton announced the opening of its newest global Innovation Center near Montreal in Brossard, Quebec, Canada, following nearly four decades of developing software in the region.

At the 35,000-square-foot space, Eaton will aim to accelerate the research and development of distributed energy resource (DER) technologies enabling sustainable electricity for buildings, homes, industry, and the electric grid. Eaton is bringing approximately 150 specialized jobs to Brossard for the center.

Availability of renewable energy is soaring globally and is expected to reach a total installed capacity of more than 440 gigawatts this year, the largest increase to date.

The latest Eaton Innovation Center focuses on developing solutions to optimize DERs by bringing together multiple disciplines, including cybersecurity, software, human-centered design, and automation experts.

“At Eaton, we’re investing $3 billion in research and development targeted at sustainable solutions by 2030. The work we’ll do here will break traditional boundaries of what electrical systems can do and enable far more flexibility in how electricity is generated, distributed and used to accelerate a more sustainable future,” said Michael Regelski, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Electrical Sector at Eaton.

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Eaton will continue its relationships with ÉTS Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal, Université de Sherbrooke, McGill, Université Concordia, Université de Montréal and others to increase the industry workforce. Many of Eaton’s employees in the area are alumni of these institutions.

Earlier this year, Eaton announced a $300M investment in its North American manufacturing and operations to support growing demand for its electrical solutions, the company said.

The company is expanding manufacturing and bolstering resilience to increase the supply of its solutions for customers in utility, commercial, healthcare, industrial, and residential markets across North America. The majority of these investments are expected to be completed in 2024 and 2025.

Eaton is adding 200,000-square-feet to its Nacogdoches, Texas manufacturing facility, more than doubling its size. 

The project will double production capacity of Eaton’s voltage regulators to help utility customers across North America accelerate grid modernisation and resilience projects, the company said. Eaton will continue to produce single-phase, pole-mount, and pad-mount transformers in Texas to address the acute supply shortage for these products.

Originally published by Sean Wolfe on Power Grid.