Hitachi Energy

Third, Ontario lenders offer little relief to condo developers.

Third, Hitachi Energy plans to build a $479 million transformer insulation factory in London, Ontario.

Fifth and finally, a new survey of larger builders shows a major shift towards technology, and we're gonna be telling you exactly why.

So without any further ado, let's get right into it and run down the biggest headlines in Canadian construction this week.

So lenders continue to insist that developers pre-sell at least 70% of project units before unlocking construction loans, creating a formidable barrier for new builds, given that only four pre-construction projects launched earlier this year, and that's compared to over 100 during the 2021 market boom.

so because lenders are refusing to lower these pre-sale thresholds or ease risk criteria to spur activity many developers are saying they are forced to indefinitely delay planned projects restructure debt or pivot away from condominium units altogether by converting developments into long-term rental housing directly limiting new housing supply for the coming decade so i think that This clearly demonstrates that some of the old funding models may be broken for the time being, and developers are having to search for other ways to recoup existing investments and come up with a different path forward if this condo slump is going to continue into the foreseeable future.

All right, so next up, supported by $50 million in combined federal and provincial government funding, Hitachi Energy is building a $470 million, 226,000 square foot transformer insulation factory in London, Ontario.

And it has a completion date targeted for about late 2028.

This season on Hitachi Energy's Power Pulse podcast, we're turning our focus to grid automation.

Expect bold ideas, real stories, and insights straight from the experts shaping today's power grids.

From smart digital solutions to the challenges and opportunities of a more flexible, sustainable energy system, we'll be covering the topics that matter most.

How did this begin?

Yeah, that's a great question.

Hitachi Energy has been extremely fortunate to partner with US Department of Energy, their CESER organization, on many aspects of grid security and supply chain risk management in cybersecurity.

Initially, we were asked to participate on Department of Energy's Executive Securing Energy Infrastructure Task Force as an expert on OT control systems in this space.

And yeah, Department of Energy was given the task from Congress to give a report on the state of the union of the grid security and what the grid is doing.

But yes, we've spent this week welcoming subscribers and listeners and also interested and or curious guests.

And we have been hosting panel discussions all week, which have been A remarkable cast assembled with the help of our friends at Hitachi Energy, including but not limited to people from Hitachi Energy, but also Srimati Kessan, who is the founder and CEO of Space Kids India.

She's launched 27 space missions and has another one coming up in November.

Sushmita Mohanty, who is the Director General of Spaceport Sarabhai.

Uh, if any listeners, uh, in New Delhi are tuning in, we have more coming up, uh, on Wednesday and Thursday, and you can find all the details on our website.

Uh, but today, our, our first actual formal event, uh, we, we had a panel discussion, uh, involving Andreas Schenbeck, CEO at Hitachi Energy, uh, Aisha Bowe, uh, who is the co-founder and CEO of, of two, uh, sort of aeronautical enterprises but was also, uh, one of the, the astronauts who, who went into, briefly into space on Blue Origin NS31 a couple of years ago, uh, and Didi Aquilo, who's a, a n- the Nobel Physics laureate and the co-discoverer of the planet 51 Pegasi b. Um, a-as you can imagine, uh, that was a, a fairly, uh, high-level, no pun intended, conversation, but also a really interesting one, um, talking about, uh, how to overcome doubt in both individuals and organizations and, and about the possibilities in all these fields, uh, offered by a, a country with the remarkable energy and possibilities of India.

Andrew Mueller, standing on the shoulders of rocket scientists, astronauts, uh, physics Nobel laureates, [laughs] Monaco's contributing editor in New Delhi.

We'll be hearing from you, uh, throughout this week.