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    ABB Expanding C&I Buildings Efficiency Footprint with SEAM Acquisition

    Feb. 16, 2024
    The SEAM deal follows ABB’s announcement late last year that it was making significant investments in energy management solutions firm Lumin. The Lumin stake, is focused on residential sector energy management and follows yet another transaction with the acquisition of German smart homes technology provider Eve Systems.
    Image credit SEAM Group website
    65cf87b353c095001e514040 Seam

    ABB, which has spent the past year raising its stake in the home energy management sector through several acquisitions, is also strengthening its commitment to the commercial and industrial (C&I) buildings side of that high-volume facility efficiency market.

    The Swiss-based electrical equipment and automation firm has agreed to buy SEAM Group, a U.S. provider of energized asset management and advisory services to clients in the C&I buildings markets. The transaction still requires regulatory approval and could close in Q3 2024. No financial terms were revealed.

    The SEAM deal follows ABB’s announcement late last year that it was making significant investments in energy management solutions firm Lumin. The Lumin stake is focused on residential sector energy management and follows yet another transaction with the acquisition of German smart homes technology provider Eve Systems.

    The new move in agreeing to buy SEAM Group will reportedly complement ABB’s Electrification Service offering. According to the release, it will broaden the company’s industrial asset management and advisory services footprint with 3,000 additional customer sites in the U.S.

    “For many industries, every minute of production time counts,” Stuart Thompson, Division President of ABB Electrification Service, said in a statement. “Proactive asset management is now a priority for industrial companies to guarantee peak performance of electrical systems and overall operational efficiency, safety, and sustainability.”

    Thompson confirmed that the SEAM transaction is part of an ongoing strategy to “create a new force in electrification service” in the U.S.

    Among SEAM Group’s network of more than 1 million energized assets are some 3,000 sites in commercial buildings, data centers, health care, manufacturing, and EV charging infrastructure. ABB also offers a suite of EV charging technologies.

    “The synergies between SEAM Group and ABB are clear,” SEAM CEO Colin Duncan said. “. . .Together we will deliver new levels of operational performance while supporting companies in their energy transition.”

    Overall, SEAM Group has more than 800 clients worldwide.  The company also manages assets in Europe and Asia.

    Building energy use accounts for between 30-40% of greenhouse gas emissions globally, according to several reports. In the U.S. electricity end-use, the commercial, industrial, and residential facilities contribute 60% of total GHG emissions, according to the federal government’s Energy Information Administration.

    The U.S. Department of Energy announced its Building Decarbonization Blueprint in December. The plan calls for a united strategy to reduce building emissions 65% below 2005 levels by 2035 and 90% by 2050.

    These goals would require steep changes in building electrification, HVAC, metering, data analytics, and built-in efficiencies such as windows and insulation. 

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    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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