Schneider Electric, a Paris, France-based global expert in energy management, is opening its own R&D center in Skolkovo, the government-sponsored innovation hub still under construction just outside Moscow. The French company announced the planned center and received residency status in Skolkovo 18 months ago.
Under the terms of a cooperation agreement inked between Schneider Electric and the Skolkovo Foundation, the new center will be established in Skolkovo’s Eco-Office energy efficient building. It will focus on the development of advanced energy distribution control systems for smart electrical grids.
Another focal area will be the creation of control systems for multipurpose stand-alone generators and pipelines, as well as the adaptation of Schneider Electric solutions to the Russian environment.
The Eco-Office will also be upgraded, with all of its engineering systems integrated in a single intelligent control system, a Schneider Electric solution. The objective is to reduce energy consumption in the building to near zero and eventually have it certified for compliance with the international LEED ‘green construction’ standard.
By 2017, the R&D facility with a projected staff of 100 employees is expected to be operating at full throttle.
Already present in a number of Russian regions with pilot smart grid projects, Schneider Electric views the most recent deal as a critical part of its strategy aimed at localizing technology solutions in countries where the company is present, Frederic Abbal, the executive vice president of Schneider Electric’s Energy division, said at the signing ceremony last week. With Schneider Electric’s six Russian-based factories, three logistics centers and a few dozen offices, Russia is now the foreign country in which the French firm has most has invested during the last five years, the vice president underscored.
Source: Schneider Electric, Skolkovo Foundation
