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    Eaton Expanding DER Innovation Center in Quebec by 9K SF and 150 jobs

    Aug. 23, 2024
    Expansion of the Eaton Innovation Center in Brossard also will add a new Experience Center to provide hands-on training for digital technologies which can speed up the energy transition.
    Screenshot of Eaton Microgrid testing facility courtesy the company
    66c8dca4934614119a86d741 Eaton Screenshot Experience Cener

    Power management technology firm Eaton, which already is on target to invest $3 billion in research and development on the energy transition opportunities this decade, is expanding its Quebec-based R&D Center less than one year after its opening.

    Eaton will add 9,000 square feet and 50 additional jobs to the company’s Innovation Center in Brossard near Montreal. This facility, which opened in November 2023 and currently employs close to 150 experts in distributed energy resource (DER) technologies, is where Eaton works with customers such as electric transmission and distribution utility Hydro-Québec on developing and commercializing its microgrid systems as well as other new DER solutions.

    Expansion of the Eaton Innovation Center in Brossard also will add a new Experience Center to provide hands-on training for digital technologies which can speed up the energy transition. Many industry experts point to artificial intelligence and other software tools as major drivers of future DER growth.

    “Innovation and industry education are essential to propel the world’s transition to smarter, more sustainable energy systems,” Luiz Fernando Huet de Bacellar, Eaton’s vice president of engineering and technology at Eaton, said in a statement. “Here in Montreal, we’re bringing together the electrical industry’s brightest minds to develop and test new technologies, working hand-in-hand with customers, regional universities and technical schools to make it happen.”

    The company has spent close to $1.3 billion on DER R&D efforts since 2020, according to reports. Eaton has worked on recent microgrid projects in the medical care and manufacturing sectors.

    The goal of its new microgrid system and research is to simplify and optimize integration of renewables and energy storage for utilities and end-use customers in the commercial and industrial sectors.

    “The expansion of the Eaton Innovation Center, in particular the new customer Experience Center, will help enhance the collaboration environment between Eaton and Hydro-Québec, and allow us to better integrate innovative technologies into our distribution system,” said Hervé Delmas, automation engineer at the utility.

    Eaton manufactures dozens of equipment products across numerous sector supply chains. In the DER space, they produce backup power, energy storage, engine, fuel systems, emissions, residential, wiring, switchgear and grid solutions.

    Among the major customers which contracted with Eaton to supply DER and microgrid technologies include the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Bloom Energy, Enel North America, University of Michigan Medical System, U.S. Army, AEP Ohio and the city of Columbus, Ohio.

     

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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