About Microgrids

Schneider Electric Investing $700M in U.S. Operations Through 2027

March 25, 2025

Microgrid developer and energy management firm Schneider Electric is going to invest $700 million to strengthen its U.S. electrical equipment manufacturing and development operations over the next two years.

The planned investment will support new work around growing U.S. digitalization, automation and manufacturing demand through the end of this decade. Data center capacity is expected to more than double by 2032, while reshoring of industrial and manufacturing capacity is accelerating in this new era of tariffs and tightening supply chains.

Energy technology–from new power plants to substations, motors, transformers, breakers and beyond–must meet the challenge or risk falling behind other countries, many experts say.

Schneider Electric’s total U.S. investment for the decade should exceed $1 billion and is the French-based global firm’s largest capital expenditure plan in its 135-year history within the country. Schneider Electric also expects that the expansion will create 1,000 new jobs domestically.

Energy demand is outpacing previous expectations due to the new energy demands of hyperscale data and artificial intelligence (AI) projects.

“We stand at an inflection point for the technology and industrial sectors in the U.S., driven by incredible AI growth and unprecedented energy demand,” Aamir Paul, president of North America operations for Schneider Electric, said in a statement. “To lead the transformation ahead, we must be agile and act now to advance ambitious digitalization and efficiency goals to make an impact for generations to come.”

The Schneider Electric U.S. investment announcement comes one day after the American Society of Civil Engineers released its quadrennial Report Card on America’s Infrastructure. Energy dropped one grade to a D+ as the ASCE calculated at least a $580 billion funding gap in what is needed to be invested as new digital technologies and increased energy demand try to come online through the latter half of this decade and the 2030s.

Leadership at the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) applauded the Schneider Electric financial commitment to U.S. energy, automation and digitalization development.

“America’s electrical system will face unprecedented rising energy demand in the coming decade driven by data centers and AI,” Debra Phillips, NEMA President and CEO, said. “Schneider Electric's historic investment of over $700 million across its domestic operations over the next two years is indicative of the critical role electrical manufacturers play in meeting this new demand and powering an electric future.

“We look forward to working together to expand domestic manufacturing, deliver a world-class grid, and meet the electricity demands of the modern world,” Phillips added.

While Schneider Electric is considered one of the microgrid leaders nationwide, the company also provides equipment on the electrification, energy efficiency and management fronts.

Among the facilities which will benefit from the expanded investment plan include the new power distribution laboratory and microgrid testing center at Andover, Massachusetts. The new microgrid laboratory will simulate and test fully functioning microgrids under real-world conditions.

Schneider Electric also is constructing a new facility to expand medium voltage market capabilities in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. The molded case circuit break and air circuit breaker factory in Columbia, Missouri, also will be expanded.

Schneider Electric is an exhibitor and participant

at the Microgrid Knowledge Conference

April 15-17 at the Sheraton Dallas in Texas

About the Author

Rod Walton, Managing Editor | Managing Editor

For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.

I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.

Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.