Manufacturer Plans $340M Transformer Plant Retrofit in South Carolina

Eaton Corp. plc, an industrial producer, is planning to spend $340 million retrofitting a brownfield website in South Carolina right into a plant producing electrical tools.

The Beachwood, Ohio-based firm, integrated in Eire, plans to supply three-phase electrical transformers in an 861,000-sq-ft constructing on a 54-acre website in Jonesville, S.C., that beforehand housed a retailer’s distribution middle.

Eaton anticipates going out to bid later this yr for a contractor, a consultant says. Manufacturing is scheduled to start out in 2027.

The corporate, which already manufactures three-phase transformers at two crops in Wisconsin, says it’s going to proceed that manufacturing as effectively. It additionally plans to proceed making single-phase, pole-mount and pad-mount transformers in Texas. 

Sure items {of electrical} tools comparable to transformers have had lengthy lead occasions in recent times. Eaton says it has invested greater than $1 billion in its North American electrical manufacturing since 2023 to extend manufacturing of kit for energy distribution, electrical assemblies and grid infrastructure. 

“Electrical energy demand is growing dramatically, and our options are on the coronary heart of power programs all over the place, from the utility grid to industrials, knowledge facilities, buildings and extra,” mentioned Mike Yelton, Americas area president at Eaton, in an announcement. 

The South Carolina Dept. of Commerce mentioned its Coordinating Council for Financial Improvement permitted job improvement credit to the mission. State officers additionally awarded a $10-million Rural Infrastructure Fund grant to the county to assist the mission.

Eaton has 10 different services in South Carolina.