On June 23, Eaton hosted members of the CEOs for Sustainability network at the Power Systems Experience Center for an inside look at the technologies helping businesses and utilities manage a changing energy landscape.
Through presentations, full-scale equipment, and interactive demonstrations, the Eaton team showed how electricity moves through a modern power system and how organizations can improve reliability, efficiency, and resilience as energy demands continue to grow.
Hearing from Eaton’s Leaders
The morning began with Eaton leaders providing context for the tour by discussing the forces reshaping the energy sector and the company’s role in addressing them.
The conversation covered growing electricity demand, electrification, digital infrastructure, operational resilience, and the need for organizations to demonstrate measurable sustainability progress. Members also heard how Eaton is integrating sustainability into its broader business strategy and helping customers prepare for increasingly complex energy needs.
Mapping the Flow of Electricity
Before heading onto the demonstration floor, the group received a high-level overview of the electrical power sector.
Beginning with the utility, attendees explored how electricity flows through the power system-from medium-voltage infrastructure, transformers, low-voltage distribution, switchboards, motor controls, uninterruptible power supplies, and the equipment that ultimately uses the electricity.
This helpful context gave members a framework for the rest of the tour and helped connect each demonstration to the larger power system.
Exploring the Substation
The tour then moved into the Experience Center’s full-scale utility and substation environment.
Substations play a critical role in receiving electricity, adjusting voltage, protecting infrastructure, and directing power into the local distribution system. The Experience Center allows visitors to walk through this infrastructure and see equipment that would normally be inaccessible or operating behind the scenes.
Illuminated lines overhead made the flow of electricity visible as the group moved through the space. The demonstration showed how different parts of a distribution system are connected and how faults or disruptions can affect the wider network.
Eaton tour guides explained the role of transformers in changing voltage levels so electricity can move safely and efficiently through the system. Members examined full-scale equipment and a cutaway transformer that revealed components normally hidden during operation.
The group also viewed examples of damaged or failed electrical components. These hands-on demonstrations illustrated how faults, surges, weather, and operating stress can affect equipment, reinforcing the importance of monitoring, maintenance, and system protection.
Seeing a Microgrid in Action
The next portion of the tour focused on microgrids and distributed energy.
The Experience Center is arranged like a small community, allowing visitors to see how utility power, on-site generation, energy storage, controls, and different types of buildings can function as one connected system.
A live dashboard showed electricity moving among the utility, generation sources, battery storage, and building loads. Eaton demonstrated how a microgrid controller continuously balances these resources as energy needs and operating conditions change.
During a grid interruption, a microgrid can separate from the larger system and continue serving priority loads. During normal operations, it can help manage demand, integrate renewable energy, and give organizations greater visibility and control over their electricity use.
Preparing for Larger and More Volatile Loads
The tour also explored how systems are being adapted to handle larger, faster-changing, and more complex loads.
This is becoming especially important for data centers and other energy-intensive facilities, where reliability, power quality, and the ability to respond quickly to changing demand are essential. Eaton demonstrated how testing, monitoring, power factor correction, and advanced controls can help maintain system performance under different operating conditions.
The discussion also highlighted opportunities to improve efficiency through technologies such as variable frequency drives, which allow motors to better match their energy use to the work being performed.
Solar, Wind, and Battery Storage
The final portion of the tour moved outside, where members viewed the distributed energy resources supporting the Experience Center.
The group examined battery energy storage equipment and discussed how storage can help facilities manage peak demand, use electricity at more advantageous times, and maintain critical operations during grid disruptions.
Eaton also discussed how the site incorporates solar generation and wind energy alongside battery storage and utility power. Together, these resources demonstrate how organizations can build a more flexible energy portfolio rather than relying on a single source.
The outdoor discussion also addressed the practical considerations involved in deploying these systems, including space, safety, controls, interconnection, and alignment with a facility’s operational needs.
Continuing the Work
Since the tour, Eaton has released its 2025 Sustainability Report, offering a broader look at how the company is advancing sustainability across its operations, products, and long-term strategy.
The report builds on many of the themes members explored at the Experience Center, including electrification, digitalization, energy storage, efficiency, and resilient power management. It also provides an opportunity to learn more about Eaton’s progress, commitments, and approach to helping customers navigate the changing energy landscape.
The visit gave CEOs for Sustainability members an opportunity to see the physical systems behind many of today’s most important business conversations. From substations and microgrids to data center loads, renewable generation, and battery storage, each stop demonstrated how energy infrastructure is becoming more connected, digital, and central to business continuity.
Sustainable Pittsburgh would like to thank the Eaton team for hosting the network and sharing its expertise, technology, and time with our members.