As the world transitions away from using fossil fuels, worldwide energy generation will change completely from centralized power plants to decentralized renewables.

For a company like SGB-SMIT, this means a fundamental change in what their customers will require of them. SGB-SMIT is a pure play transformer specialist based in Europe. The company develops and produces distribution and power transformers from 30 kVA  up to 1,200 MVA with voltages up to 765,000 volts in 14 manufacturing locations, worldwide.  

Holger Ketterer, CEO of  SGB-SMIT Group  says that the company is built on core values that customers appreciate: 

“Our group stands for professionalism, experience, technological expertise, reliability and economic efficiency. There is no electrical energy without a reliable transmission grid  and a reliable and flexible distribution grid. Thus, the world needs reliable, efficient and affordable transformers.”

Marlies van Tilburg, Manager Sustainable Logistics, SMIT says that the company is looking to make changes across the board to respond to the growing calls for businesses – particularly in the power sector – to become more conscious of how they limit the harm caused by emissions and wasteful practices: 

“In the energy sector there is a big movement towards sustainability, and this affects our products and services. The SGB-SMIT Group wants to capture this trend and we do this through creating and testing innovative product designs. This will help us to have lower energy losses and reduce our impact on the environment.”

Marlies van Tilburg says that the changes are being designed-in to the materials and designs used throughout the manufacture process: 

“One example is the amount of non-virgin copper within the wirings at the moment it’s 40%, but we want to increase it to 100%in the future. Also, we look at alternative materials,for instance new insulation fluids such as BIO based and biodegradable fluids as well as at steel with reduced CO2 intensity, lifetime extension, and modular  designs. All these aspects will help us to make our transformers even more sustainable. Product innovation and the development of circular business models together with partners will help us to close our loops.”

Circular economies, in which waste is eliminated and unwanted outputs from one process are used by another, have been hailed as effective ways to shift industries towards more sustainable practices. 

Sustainable energy from renewables is a fundamental principle of the circular economy. Erwin Birbacher, Business Unit Manager Distribution Transformers, SGB-SMIT Group says that the company has a head start on helping businesses to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels: 

“The SGB-SMIT  Group is an important supplier of products for the generation of green energy, such as wind energy, photovoltaics or biomass. SGB-SMIT Group have initiated programs to minimize the energy consumption and to reduce emissions. These measures range from a replacement of standard lighting to energy-saving LED lights through to installation of photovoltaic systems for a partial energy supply, to a construction of a combined heat and power plant that also supplies the surrounding residents with district heating. In addition, the purchase of green energy is being promoted.”

Concerns around energy consumption are truly global; while China once appeared out of step with the rest of the world on attitudes towards carbon emissions, Yiyi Yang, General Manager, SGB China , says that there is change in the air:

“Total grid-connected offshore wind capacity in China has surpassed 11 GW by the first half of 2021, which means China has replaced the UK as the world’s largest offshore wind market.“

Yiyi Yang says that China’s embrace of renewables presents an opportunity that is too big to ignore: 

“The Chinese government vowed  to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and to reach carbon neutrality by 2060, which brings about huge opportunities for renewables. At SGB-SMIT  we continue to focus on the offshore wind sector in China   through continuous technology innovation and the strategic collaboration with our local partners. I believe SGB-SMITcan provide reliable products, solutions, and services to our Chinese clients in turn to develop our business in the world’s largest renewable market.” 

For Holger Ketterer, SGB-SMIT is about more than profit; it has become a key partner in the world’s race to reach a sustainable future: 

“Our product enables a reliable, efficient, and affordable supply of energy, working in line with the values of the United Nations and managing the market trends. Our aim for the future is to continue developing our business on the basis of this vision to grow further on a global scale, both organically and inorganically with a clear focus on our customers.”