Aclara Technologies and its affiliates have opened a new headquarters for international operations in Bilbao, Spain, and a new office in Cambridge, U.K.
Aclara now operates two facilities in Bilbao to serve the international market in EMEA, Asia and Latin America. The new facilities will support a comprehensive portfolio of solutions to electric, water, and gas utilities and will house the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) electric development center. The facility also features a full support meter development test lab on site.
Located nearby, a second facility is dedicated to meter manufacturing and logistics. The Cambridge office supports Aclara’s expanding business and its technical support team in the U.K. The facility is the hub for rolling out smart meters to Aclara’s energy customers and the growing smart grid sensor business that serves distribution network operators in the U.K., as well as Aclara’s growing gas and water business in Europe.
“These developments are an important aspect of our transformation into a new Aclara, as we strategically expand our global reach in Europe and other parts of the world, and increase the breadth of our offering to span game-changing, end-to-end solutions for electric, gas and water utilities around the world,” said Allan Connolly, Aclara president and CEO.
Aclara, which serves more than 800 utilities globally, has been growing its business in Europe and other parts of the world. In December 2015, Aclara acquired the electric meters business operating within GE Energy Management’s Grid Solutions subdivision, and in August 2016, Aclara purchased the grid-monitoring platform from Tollgrade Communications Inc., which includes smart grid sensors with Predictive Grid Analytics software.
“As utilities around the world seek smart solutions to propel them forward into the future, Aclara is ideally poised to bring best-of-breed solutions to distribution operators that will benefit from our technological edge and deep experience,” Connolly said.