ABB to build smart grid center at NCSU
ABB Inc. will establish a new Smart Grid Center of Excellence at its Centennial Campus facility and will expand its operations at the North Carolina State University campus, the Switzerland-based power technology company said Wednesday.
ABB will launch its new smart grid effort with an initial investment of $10 million, the company said. ABB said it will devote "several" full-time employees to the venture, which will be housed in ABB's Centennial Campus facility until a permanent facility can be built nearby.
The announcement Wednesday comes less than two weeks after the North Carolina Economic Investment Committee approved a Job Development Investment Grant worth as much as $2.15 million to ABB if the Swiss company creates and sustains 30 new engineering jobs in Wake County. Those JDIG funds will be used to pay for the ABB employees at the Smart Grid Center, the company said.
ABB has 771 full-time employees in North Carolina. Its North American operations are based in Cary and its North American Power Systems and Power Products divisions are headquartered on Centennial Campus.
The Smart Grid Center of Excellence will include a testing and development laboratory, a verification center to certify customer solutions before deployment, and a demonstration center that will showcase ABB’s smart grid technologies and collaborative partnerships. ABB will work closely with the FREEDM Systems Center, a strategic partner of ABB’s that is also based on Centennial Campus. The National Science Foundation established the FREEDM Systems Center in 2008 to develop smart grid technology based on advanced power electronics and information technology.
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