A European company that makes transformers for utilities and vehicles announced Tuesday it will open a facility in eastern Georgia near the sprawling Plant Vogtle nuclear power station.
Ritz Instrument Transformers will invest $28 million in the new facility in Waynesboro, about 30 miles south of Augusta, and promised to hire 130 workers, according to a news release. The German company, which already operates two Georgia plants, develops and produces transformers ranging from 600 volts to 500 kilovolts in addition to cast metal parts.
Gov. Brian Kemp met with Ritz during a 2023 trip to Germany, and he credited that visit with playing a role in the company’s latest investment in Georgia. Scott Flowers, the CEO and general manager of Ritz’s U.S. division, said in the release that the forthcoming Waynesboro facility “marks the single-largest investment to date for the Ritz Group and illustrates the commitment of the company to the North American market.”
“The U.S. electrical grid is undergoing rapid expansion and transformation as the utility industry reacts to and prepares for growth driven by adoption of electric vehicles, new data centers needed to power (artificial intelligence), continued addition of renewable generation and an increase in the U.S. manufacturing base,” Flowers continued.
Georgia has been heavily impacted by those fast-growing industries, especially EVs and data centers.
Georgia has emerged as a leader within the country’s EV industry, with two multibillion-dollar automotive assembly plants in the pipeline along with dozens of suppliers and battery-related facilities. The state has announced 53 EV and battery projects since 2018 that combine for $27.3 billion in investment and more than 32,000 anticipated jobs, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
Metro Atlanta has emerged as a premier data center hub. Since 2023, data center construction in metro Atlanta has more than tripled, which is the fastest among major data center markets across the country, according to real estate services firm CBRE. The proliferation of these facilities has raised concerns about their utility demands, particularly on the state’s power grid.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Ritz’s new facility will be located at the Burke County Industrial Park near Burke Veterans Parkway, which is about 20 miles west of Plant Vogtle.
Plant Vogtle features four nuclear reactors, with Units 3 and 4 being the first two built from scratch on U.S. soil since the late 1980s.
Flowers told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Ritz doesn’t have a direct relationship with Vogtle, but its owners are customers. Georgia Power owns the largest share in the Vogtle expansion with 45.7%, followed by Oglethorpe Power (30%), the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (22.7%) and Dalton Utilities (1.6%).
Ritz will qualify for job creation tax credits and worker training through Georgia Quick Start. A Georgia Department of Economic Development spokeswoman said negotiations over other discretionary incentives remain active.
The Ritz facility is expected to open in late 2025.
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