ZURICH, May 11 (Reuters) - ABB will invest about $200 million to expand production of medium-voltage grid equipment in Europe to meet rising power demand from data centres, electric cars and industry, the Swiss engineering group said on Monday.
The investment will boost production capacity for distribution equipment used by power networks to supply factories, hospitals and large buildings, ABB said.
The three-year programme includes $100 million for a new factory in Dalmine, northern Italy, and another $100 million to expand plants in Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Norway and Poland.
The investments will increase ABB's European production capacity for medium-voltage products by between 50% and 300%, depending on the product line, and create about 800 jobs.
Adrian Guggisberg, head of ABB's Distribution Solutions division, told Reuters the company was responding to big increases in demand from utilities and grid operators.
ABB's supplies many of Europe's largest utilities including Germany's E.ON and France's Enedis, part of EDF.
"The demand for electrification is going up and up," Guggisberg said, adding it was not a short-term trend.
Instead, it reflected changes including the building of data centres to support artificial intelligence, increased use of electric vehicles and heat pumps, and the decarbonisation of industry, he said.
"There is more demand for heating and cooling, and also onshoring of industries," Guggisberg added.
Electricity is expected to account for nearly 30% of final energy use by 2030, up from about 20% today.
Electricity demand is growing faster than overall energy usage, according to the International Energy Agency.
Guggisberg said this made grid investment increasingly important, raising demand for medium-voltage equipment.
Reporting by John Revill Editing by Dave Graham
Source: Reuters