Joining forces to guarantee power Editorial: Tim Hands
© Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Africa
Following an agreement first proposed in late 2012 between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Limited and Hitachi Limited, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Africa was launched in Johannesburg in March 2014. It was a merger which saw the South African business of Hitachi Power Africa transferred to the newly-formed MHPSA, a primary aspect of which is the provision of six 800 MW Utility Steam Generators for the Medupi and Kusile power stations. “The thinking behind this started in 2012,” explains Head of Sales and Business Development, David Milner, of the merger’s beginnings, “and the conclusion reached by the companies was that both Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Hitachi Power were competing in the same markets, but to be successful in these markets you need both global reach and critical mass. They believed therefore that by
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working together they would be able to bring together the best of the two organisations and their products, and to have a unit that was able to compete with the other major power companies in the world – General Electric and Siemens. It took about a year to clarify quite how this would be achieved, and the formal announcement of the merger was made around July 2013.” The two companies have
since placed their thermal power groups into the joint venture, but have kept their wind, solar and nuclear assets separate. This means that steam, gas and thermal renewable products are all being taken care of by Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Africa, since starting business in South Africa at the beginning of the following March having overcome some further regulatory hurdles.