The proposed 200,000sqft Grid IQ center will develop and manufacture grid modernization technologies and will encompass a global testing and simulation laboratory.
The government of Ontario will provide $7.9m for the $40m energy solutions center, which is expected to start operations in July 2012.
GE’s innovation center will focus on delivering solutions to improve system efficiency and reliability and to protect and automate the power system, and will perform edge research and development in substation and distribution automation, electrical system protection and control, microgrid control and cyber security.
The company said its new center will include expanded manufacturing facilities for GE’s Smart Grid Automation products, which will relocate from Calgary, Alberta.
The new center will be built under a memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed between GE and the Ontario government in September 2009 to partner and invest long-term within the province to establish new or expanded centers of technology and advanced manufacturing.
Under the MOU, GE recently announced the establishment of its Digital Pathology Center of Excellence in Toronto and a $100m investment in the GE Motors, Peterborough facility.
