Hitachi has reached an agreement with Walid Ahmad Juffali Company (WJCO) to establish a joint venture in the gas-insulated switchgear business.
Hitachi will hold a 51% share of equity in the new venture, and WJCO will hold a 49% share. With an investment plan to construct a new manufacturing plant for gas-insulated switchgear to be located in Jeddah, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the company will focus on operations for gas-insulated switchgear from design and manufacture, through to assembly, installation and sales, as well as handling the entire process at substations from design through to procurement, construction, maintenance, and other related operations.
There is a growing need for a variety of electric power transmission and distribution infrastructure in conjunction with increasing introduction of renewable energy in recent years, in addition to expansion in demand for electric power in emerging countries and demand for renewal of aging transmission and distribution infrastructure in advanced countries.
In the Middle East, an increasing population and economic growth have underpinned a sharp increase in demand for electric power. There is now an urgent need to bolster the power transmission and distribution infrastructure. There is a particularly acute market need in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but needs are compelling even on a global level, for gas-insulated switchgear, which plays a vital role in the field of electric power transmission and distribution. Demand is expected to expand even further going forward.
Hitachi aims to expand its transmission and distribution business in the global market and to this end has already established operating companies to undertake manufacturing and engineering operations in Atlanta, Suzhou, Shandong, Taichung, Jakarta and Singapore as it continues to promote its global business development.
Now, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Hitachi has partnered with WJCO, with which the Company has a long-standing cordial relationship, in making an agreement to establish a joint venture to undertake the power transmission and distribution business centered on gas-insulated switchgear.