Power Profile – Hitachi Energy
For more than 50 years, Hitachi Energy’s Jefferson City plant has played a vital role in powering Missouri. What began with a single transformer built for Union Electric, now Ameren Missouri, has grown into one of the state’s most enduring industrial partnerships.
The facility first opened under Westinghouse in 1972 and continues to produce transformers that keep homes, businesses and communities running across the state.
The partnership that began with one transformer has become a valued relationship for both companies. Ameren depends on Hitachi for equipment that keeps the grid running, and Hitachi depends on Ameren for the electricity that powers its plant.
Hitachi Energy's Jefferson City plant specializes in the production of electrical transformers.
Ashley Varner, who leads community relations at Hitachi Energy’s Jefferson City plant, said the connection is both historic and essential.
“Ameren was our very first customer back in 1972,” she said. “It takes a lot of energy to make energy. So it’s a very symbiotic relationship.”
That collaboration goes beyond the technical side of energy delivery. Mark Hemmann, key accounts manager for Hitachi Energy, said the company saw a need to play a more active role in shaping Missouri’s energy future. Recognizing that long-term grid improvements depend on forward-looking policy, Hitachi began supporting efforts to modernize the laws that make meaningful investment possible.
“This is not something that we, as Hitachi, typically do,” Hemmann said. “But this just seemed to make a whole lot of sense to get involved and make a positive difference.”
Recognizing that long-term grid improvements depend on forward-looking policy, Hitachi supported efforts to modernize Missouri’s energy framework and encourage meaningful investment in the state’s infrastructure. Those efforts aligned with the passage of the Power Predictability and Reliability Act, also known as Senate Bill 4, a wide-ranging bipartisan measure signed into law earlier this year. The legislation modernized Missouri’s utility regulations to allow long-term infrastructure planning, authorize new grid investments and strengthen consumer protections during extreme weather.
“Most all of the laws that were still on the books were decades old,” Hemmann said, noting that the grid itself had aged over time. “We had to make some changes, had to make it enticing for people to spend money to renew, to develop, to grow, to enhance the grid.”
That focus on long-term improvement is reflected in the growth of the Jefferson City plant. Since 2017, the facility has expanded from roughly 900 to more than 1,300 employees, supported by a $10 million investment to expand production capacity and enhance efficiency. The plant now serves Ameren and many other utilities across the country.
Hemmann said that continued growth means more good-paying jobs in the community and new opportunities for local suppliers and contractors who support the plant’s work.
“As we grow, we’re able to hire more people,” Hemmann said.
That same spirit of investment extends beyond the plant floor. Varner joined the facility in 2022 as the company’s first community relations lead, creating a new bridge between the workplace and the wider community.
“Traditionally, manufacturing doesn’t have community relations,” she said. “It really was a strategic move around workforce development.”
Through her efforts, the Jefferson City team has become one of the region’s top corporate donors to United Way, contributing more than $209,000 in its second year and aiming even higher this year. Employees volunteer regularly with local nonprofits such as the Salvation Army, and the plant’s culture emphasizes inclusion through groups like Women in Energy, Military and Allies and Rainbows and Allies.
That kind of engagement, Varner said, benefits everyone. It strengthens the community while also building pride, retention and connection among employees who see the results of their work both inside and outside the plant.
“When we help somebody else, we feel better about ourselves,” Varner said. “You could be having a really bad day, and you go and volunteer and you feel better immediately because now you have gratitude for what you do have.”
The plant’s long history of reliability, paired with its growing commitment to people and community, mirrors the relationship that has linked Hitachi Energy and Ameren Missouri for more than five decades.
“We can’t do what we do without Ameren,” Varner said. “Hitachi isn’t Hitachi without Ameren.”
For Hemmann, that partnership represents something larger than business.
“There’s a lot more to the business than just selling a product or supplying a customer with power,” he said. “It’s developing the good of the community.”
To learn more about Hitachi Energy, please visit hitachienergy.com.