Ensto invests for triple-digit growth in the USA.
The US grid is massive, aging, and often unreliable, but there are ambitious plans for upgrades — meaning the US market has probably never been more ready for Ensto products.
In 2020, the average American experienced just over eight hours of power outages, while the German average, for example, was a mere 12 minutes. What is more, the US grid simply cannot keep pace with the needs of the American population.
“The US grid is slated to need double its current capacity by 2035 to keep up with the needs of the consumers,” says Alexis Dennis, Ensto President for North America. But the grid is in such bad shape that it’s not yet ready to even support electric vehicle charging stations. “If only half the population got EVs,” says Dennis, “it would crash the grid.”
Dennis says the solution is a combination of building new lines and getting more power out of the existing grids. “The scale of a brand-new grid is simply overwhelming and something that’s not doable. Even the biggest investor-owned utilities don’t have the manpower to meet the needs. A thousand miles per year isn’t manageable.”
Part of the solution is a massive effort at the federal level. To expand and modernize the grid, the US Department of Energy announced 13 billion dollars of financing, which is said to be the largest single direct federal investment ever in transmission and distribution infrastructure.
“The US is so vast,” notes Dennis. “We have different issues in different places: wildfires in the west, ice storms in the east, and hurricanes in the south. So far, Ensto has worked primarily in the west, but our products are capable of solving problems in other regions, as well. Ensto can help improve the sturdiness and reliability of the grid across the entire country.”
Dennis sees real potential for Ensto's full-covered conductor solution (FCCS). "Covered conductor is becoming more prevalent across North America. While wildfires are the relevant application in the Western half on the country, it is hurricanes in the Southeast, and icing in the Northeast. We have to market the FCCS regionally, according to the primary need for those areas."
Arcteq protection relays, and their arc flash mitigation and arc quenching technologies are already sought after. "People recognize these products and are asking for them." Dennis says current lead times for US- or Mexico-manufactured equivalent products is 30 to 40 weeks. Ensto can deliver in two to four weeks. (Yes, two to four weeks.)
Underground cable accessories, particularly hot- and cold shrink technology (called splice kits in the US) also suffer from long lead times. Dennis says there are non-IAAA/ANSI standard products that US customers are interested in because they don't want to wait 40 weeks. She has made the business case for IEEE arresters on the American market, made by Ensto in Europe with final assembly by Ensto in the US. “These should be available on the US market by the first quarter of 2024.”
“My primary focus,” she says, “is going to be our established install base. Ensto is already inside customers’ grids in the United States. Combine our existing customer base, our local warehouse, our superior lead times, the fact that we own our own lab, testing, and manufacturing facilities which enable us to hold ourselves to the highest quality standard – all that is what’s going to sell us.”
Ensto already has millions of dollars in annual sales in the US, but this, in Dennis's opinion, is only scratching the surface. Forecasts for next year call for a 43-percent increase in sales. For 2025, the plan calls for an increase of over 500 percent.
This is not small change, and to support it Ensto has hired a team in the US to fully support its business and customers, including a sales manager, a technology product manager and support staff, a customer service manager, and warehouse manager. Ensto has also invested in a 20,000 square-foot (2,000 square-meter) warehouse and office in McKinney, Texas, near Dallas.
Texas offers good tax incentives to businesses, and it is also centrally located, equidistant from the coasts and situated on two major highways, one to the Houston port and the other to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, the port and airport constituting a major transportation hub for North America.
Another thing Texas offers is Alexis Dennis herself. Dennis, a native Texan, comes from an engineering and sales background. She has worked for Eltek, GE, and ABB, where she designed and developed products for the US market from the ground up.
Dennis recently discovered that her great grandmother is from Kankaanpää, Finland. That may be where she gets part of her sisu, that famous Finnish attribute sometimes translated as grit, a quality that’s served her well as a woman in the utility business, which is traditionally a heavily male-dominated industry.
Her personality and values also seem to fit well with Ensto. "I like the feel of Ensto. There isn't the traditional hierarchy and people don't make a big deal over titles, and that suits me just fine. Also, I’m not interested in the used car salesman approach of telling someone whatever it takes to make the sale. I'm interested in finding out how to build a relationship, and help our customers solve problems they’re facing.”
Read more:
Full-covered conductor solution (FCCS)
Protection relays and arc flash protection