As data centers demand more capacity faster than ever, companies delivering at speed are capturing the opportunity. Global solution provider Hanley Energy shows how collaboration and innovation with ABB accelerates execution.
AI is accelerating digital infrastructure expansion worldwide. Every major economy is investing in data center capacity to meet demand and support AI's evolving workloads. Electrical engineering firms capable of delivering advanced power solutions at speed and scale are essential to that growth.
Execution at this pace demands innovation, technical depth, and the ability to meet evolving requirements without compromising certainty. Hanley Energy is one of the companies setting the standard. With a workforce of 850 and a strategy built around the specialist demands of data centers, they are designing and manufacturing switchgear and power systems that keep data centers online in 34 markets worldwide.
John O'Driscoll, CEO of Hanley Energy Group, says the company's approach is built on a fundamental commitment: "We are absolutely focused on keeping our promises to clients. In the data center sector, that means certainty and rigorous risk management. Our clients include some of the world's largest technology companies, and we offer them delivery without compromise."
When a major client approached them with a supply chain challenge, that commitment faced a real test: develop and deliver a complete portfolio of low-voltage switchgear for products up to 5000A across both IEC and UL markets - with a 12-month timeline.
Hanley Energy delivered in just 11 months. The engineering required was substantial: developing bespoke designs and completing full certification across two regulatory frameworks. Speed and certainty pay off, securing a contract guaranteeing volumes for the next decade.
"What made that possible was the depth of technical collaboration between Hanley Energy and ABB," says O'Driscoll. "We brought together our switchgear design expertise with ABB's breaker technology and worked through the engineering requirements systematically. The outcome was a solution the client had never seen delivered at that speed or specification."
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Supply chain certainty
Paul O'Donnell, Global Head of Strategic Procurement at Hanley Energy, says the company's operational planning now extends across a five-year horizon. "AI has fundamentally changed the demand profile for data center capacity," he says. "We coordinate capacity requirements with key partners like ABB years in advance, ensuring agreements are built on sustainability, quality, service, and value.”
Operational discipline underpins every commitment. “Data centers need long-term commitments and operational reliability to execute their expansion plans. This level of operational execution can only be achieved through an extended global supply chain that involves strategic partners like ABB," says O’Donnell.
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Collaborative engineering
Technical depth is a big factor in Hanley Energy's growth. One in four employees has a technical background: engineers who understand both customer requirements and the complexities of power system design. That expertise has enabled the development of more than 15 switchgear solutions in the last five years.
Jerome McEvoy, Global Director for Low Voltage Switchgear at Hanley Energy, points to a specific example of how collaborative engineering addresses evolving customer requirements. Data center operators needed higher accuracy power monitoring – Class 0.5 – to bill customers precisely based on actual power consumption.
Conventional solutions required additional current transformers and metering equipment, adding complexity and potential failure points. Hanley Energy brought the requirement to ABB.
"We sat down with ABB and explained where we believed the market was going and what our customers needed," says McEvoy. "As a result, ABB has integrated Class 0.5 accuracy sensing directly into their new Emax 3 air circuit breaker's trip units. The innovation enables us to take the information directly from the trip unit itself, eliminating risk from a maintenance and failure perspective."
Customer requirements drove development of the Emax 3
This delivers substantial operational gains. "With a standard power monitoring solution, you put current transformers on a busbar, wire it up, and install your instrument on the door," McEvoy says. "If a current transformer fails, you have to shut down the whole panel and disassemble the busbar to remove and replace the transformers. If we have an issue with a breaker, we can just rack out the breaker and install a new one. The difference in downtime and maintenance complexity is substantial."
Global expertise, local support
The collaboration extends to ABB Electrification's R&D centers in Bergamo, Italy, where the Hanley Energy team works directly with ABB engineers on product development. "When we sit down with ABB and have customers involved, we can express where we believe the market is going and what customer requirements are developing," McEvoy says. "And ABB incorporates those enhancements into their product releases. We've seen that consistently over the years—from improved power monitoring accuracy to remote racking devices that address arc flash concerns for American clients."
What makes the relationship effective is the combination of local support and global expertise. "The fact that we've got access to a local ABB support team has been invaluable," McEvoy says. "If we have queries or questions, we can get straight through to someone. And if they can't answer immediately, they connect us directly to the R&D team in Bergamo.
"When customers have specific technical requirements or need direct input, they organize access to meet with the engineering team. That ability to bring global expertise into projects quickly is what drives innovation speed for us.”
Ahead of AI's power demands
As AI workloads drive power requirements to new levels, McEvoy sees a fundamental shift in switchgear designs. "In the past, switchgear was often overspecified: a 4000A board would probably run at 2800A," he says. "With AI, power requirements are increasing and data centers want to maximize their loading. With space constraints, power density is more important than ever. The focus now is making sure switchgear delivers exactly what it says it will."
New requirements are emerging. The industry is evaluating Direct Current distribution and other technologies that could reshape power system architecture. Hanley Energy is already working with ABB to ensure it has solutions ready to meet these requirements as soon as they crystallize, says McEvoy: "We're positioned to adapt quickly once the industry makes decisions on technical direction."
Hanley Energy and ABB have built a collaboration model that combines technical innovation, operational certainty, and the ability to execute faster than the market is changing. As data centers scale to meet AI demand, 1 in 4 runs on ABB technology. The edge comes from teams working together – solving problems together in real time and delivering solutions engineered for real-world demands.
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