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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Japan-Based Meiden America Switchgear Opens in Laurens County, South Carolina

04/07/2020
Japan-based Meidensha Corporation is opening its new Meiden America Switchgear manufacturing facility in Laurens County, South Carolina. The company will expand production of its high voltage vacuum circuit breakers.

Its Meiden America Switchgear production center, which will start operation this month, will be approximately 60,000 sq. ft. and utilize green solutions such as solar power and lighting.

Meiden America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Meidensha Corporation, established Meiden America Switchgear which will expand the production of their environmentally friendly high voltage vacuum circuit breakers rated 72.5kV and 145kV at the new South Carolina facility, its first production base in North America. This location will also become the North American sales hub of Meiden’s vacuum interrupters.

According to company officials, while the primary focus will be on selling vacuum bottles and the manufacture, assembly and test of HV circuit breakers without SF6 gas, other switchgears will be offered. Corporate personnel specializing in engineering, quality, design, field service, spare parts and sales will service customers from this new location.

According to company officials Meiden set aggressive overseas growth targets in its 2020 Medium-Term Management Plan. Meiden’s world class vacuum circuit breakers and vacuum interrupters address the growing demand for eco-friendly switching equipment in North America, as the incentive grows to replace aging substation equipment with environmentally friendly alternatives, without the use of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas.

Regulations are being toughened across North America on the use of SF6, which is a potent greenhouse gas, a company spokesperson said. The drive to decarbonize the grid by shifting to renewable energy-based, distributed energy resources, further drives demand for Meiden’s emissions free power distribution equipment.

Meiden’s 72.5kV vacuum circuit breakers, which do not use SF6, were released in North America in 2007, and sales of Meiden’s 145kV vacuum circuit breakers will commence in the U.S. in April 2020. At the core of Meiden’s vacuum circuit breakers are its vacuum interrupters, which Meiden has been manufacturing since the mid-1960s. Meiden’s vacuum interrupters are also sold separately to manufacturers in Japan and abroad.

Founded in 1897, Meiden is a global supplier of power and energy products with companies worldwide.

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