Across the globe, rapid electrification, the integration of renewables, global supply chain pressures, and increasing climate volatility are reshaping energy systems. As the world demands more from power grids – more capacity, more sustainability, more resilience – grid operators are looking for more than incremental improvements. The energy supercycle the world is facing requires innovation that addresses today’s challenges while anticipating future needs.

As a global leader in electrification, Hitachi Energy has emerged as a catalyst, advancing practical, future-focused technologies in close collaboration with customers and other industry stakeholders to meet changing demands.

“Meeting the current energy industry challenges is not just a question of capacity – it’s about doing things differently and doing them better. From transformer breakthroughs to digital and mobile solutions, at Hitachi Energy, we are co-creating innovative solutions with utilities and developers to address the pressure points that define today’s energy landscape”, explains Bruno Melles, Managing Director for the Transformers Business Unit at Hitachi Energy.

Reimagining the heart of the grid

Transformers sit at the core of every electrical network. A single transformer may serve hundreds of thousands of customers, making reliability, safety, and environmental performance non-negotiable.

A key advancement in the realm of safety and sustainability is the introduction of the world’s first 765-kilovolt (kV) / 400 kV single phase 250 Megavolt Ampere (MVA) natural ester-filled transformer – a milestone for high-voltage alternating current (AC) transmission. This pioneering transformer uses natural ester fluid derived from renewable plant-based sources rather than traditional mineral oil.

Natural esters are biodegradable and have a flash point nearly twice that of mineral oil, making them significantly safer and more sustainable than traditional alternatives. In the event of a leak or spill, these fluids biodegrade by nearly 100 percent within 28 days – an essential consideration in ecologically sensitive or densely populated regions.

This new transformer also features rupture-resistant TXpand™ technology, further enhancing its safety profile. It’s a breakthrough that demonstrates how utilities can achieve performance, safety, and sustainability in one package. With units already deployed in over 40 countries, ester-based solutions offer a practical path to developing a more resilient grid.

Solving uncertainty with mobility

Even as utilities modernize infrastructure, increasingly frequent, unplanned events – wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and equipment failures – continue to pose significant risks to grid reliability and drive a new wave of interest in mobile transformers.

Hitachi Energy’s high-capacity, rapidly deployable mobile transformers are pre-positioned in regional hubs and can be dispatched within weeks to restore power following equipment failure or during planned maintenance. Unlike conventional transformers, mobile units are engineered for transport, featuring low-profile, compact designs and multi-voltage capabilities that make them versatile across a wide range of grid scenarios.

One example is the development of a 168 MVA mobile transformer with Avangrid. The unit is stored at a Hitachi Energy facility and supported through a turnkey operating model; Hitachi Energy manages the full deployment process – from permitting and transport logistics to on-site installation – minimizing downtime for our customers without them needing to build in-house expertise.

Whether as bridging assets helping projects stay on schedule or as temporary emergency replacements, these units provide exceptional flexibility and speed – making them a critical part of today’s resilient grid toolkit.

Transforming data into action

Transformer digitalization is quickly becoming essential to the efficient performance of the grids. In today’s operating environment – defined by aging infrastructure, skilled labor shortages, and increasing reliability expectations – utilities need improved ways to monitor transformer health, manage their field service workforce, and extend asset life cycles.

Hitachi Energy’s TXpert™ ecosystem addresses these needs. By embedding smart sensors directly into transformers, TXpert enables real-time monitoring of key performance indicators like winding hot-spot temperatures, moisture levels, gas-in-oil content, and bushing conditions. These insights allow operators to understand the real-time status of their critical assets and make informed decisions about maintenance, loading, and risk management.

Instead of relying solely on time-based maintenance or conservative operational margins, utilities can now adopt a predictive approach – identifying potential issues before they lead to failures, improving overall system reliability. This is especially vital when the failure of a single large transformer can have cascading effects on grid performance and customer service.

The TXpert™ ecosystem also supports secure data integration and cloud-based analytics, allowing operators to centralize asset health data across fleets and regions. This enhances situational awareness and supports long-term planning, from replacement strategies to investment prioritization.

By enabling smarter, data-driven transformer management, Hitachi Energy is helping utilities unlock the full value of their existing infrastructure – building resilience through new equipment and greater visibility and control over the assets they already own. 

Partnering to move the industry forward

From the development of ultra-high-voltage ester-filled transformers to the strategic deployment of mobile units and digitalization solutions for transformers, Hitachi Energy is demonstrating that meaningful grid innovation happens in partnership.

What sets us apart is the scale of our solutions and our responsiveness to customer’s needs. Whether enabling decarbonized substations or helping utilities recover from climate-driven outages, these innovations are built collaboratively, grounded in real-world challenges and future-focused goals.

In a time defined by disruption and uncertainty, Hitachi Energy is showing that the path forward isn’t about doing more of the same; it’s about rethinking what’s possible. By developing solutions alongside customers, the company is helping shape a grid that’s stronger, more intelligent, safer, and more sustainable for the future.