Hitachi Energy has been successful in its bid to acquire full ownership of Eks Energy, a manufacturer of power conversion systems (PCS).
The Switzerland-headquartered energy and power grids subsidiary of Japan’s Hitachi conglomerate announced yesterday that it has completed the acquisition of the remaining 20% stake in Eks Energy (EKS) held by bankrupt US battery storage system integrator Powin.
After Powin filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June, rival system integrator FlexGen stepped in as a stalking horse bidder to buy almost all of its assets, including all IP, in a deal which closed a few days ago.
At the same time, Hitachi Energy bid to buy out the remaining one-fifth of Eks Energy that Powin still owned. Powin bought the company in 2022 but sold 80% of it to Hitachi Energy a year later in 2023.
Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis
- Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
- In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
- Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
- Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual
Or continue reading this article for free
Why Powin, and now Hitachi Energy, wanted PCS maker EKS
Eks Energy, headquartered in Spain, was noted for its work on inverters, PCS, and power plant control (PPC) systems for solar PV and mixed-technology microgrids, including in a variety of demanding grid and off-grid environments.
Powin executive VP Danny Lu, speaking with Energy-Storage.news around the time of the acquisition, said that PCS equipment represents a small portion of project cost but can be a source of many of the issues that determine the success or failure of energy storage systems.
Bringing power electronics in-house meant Powin was not reliant on third-party providers to deliver complex solutions to projects such as Australia’s flagship ‘shock absorber for the grid,’ Waratah Super Battery, for which Powin brought Eks Energy on board before the acquisition.
For Hitachi Energy, which has its own energy storage system (ESS) system integration business along with extensive digital grid edge solutions, the acquisition will allow for greater integration across its suite of products, the company said.
Massimo Danieli, managing director of Hitachi Energy’s Grid Automation business unit, said that ownership of the power electronics specialist enabled the company to offer a “comprehensive solution portfolio that combines proven converter and control technology with Hitachi Energy’s global scale, unparalleled grid expertise and digital capabilities.”
Hitachi Energy officially launched in 2021 as a rebrand of Hitachi ABB Power Grids, the joint venture (JV) with ABB that Hitachi fully acquired a year later, buying out the remaining 19.9% stake held by the Swiss automation company.
At the beginning of this year, Alberto Prieto, the CEO Hitachi Energy appointed to lead EKS, spoke with ESN Premium about how the parent company manufactures a wide range of products for high-voltage power applications, renewable energy and energy storage.
However, Prieto said, the company saw EKS, spun out of the University of Seville in 2002, as an opportunity to acquire deep specialist knowledge in PCS and control systems, which would become increasingly important as global energy storage markets adopt grid-forming inverter technologies.
“At Hitachi Energy, we had been looking to close this gap in the portfolio; we have transformers, we have high-voltage equipment. We were looking for power conversion architecture for a long time,” Prieto told ESN Premium in the January interview.
The company said in its statement yesterday that since its initial investment in the power conversion specialist, it has created a centre of excellence in Seville to increase collaboration across R&D, product development and customer-facing functions.
