Key Industries
Energy + Component ManufacturingÂ
The country’s smart energy hub: renewable power, energy storage, and the components that connect them
The Milwaukee region is a U.S. hub for energy and component manufacturing, with one of the deepest concentrations of clean energy, power‑systems, and industrial component talent in the country. Southeastern Wisconsin companies design and produce the generators, motors, drives, power electronics, mechanical systems, and energy‑storage components that power the modern economy—alongside the renewable‑energy equipment reshaping it.
Wisconsin is home to more than 900 companies in this ecosystem, generating $38 billion in annual sales. Regional employment runs at more than four times the national average, reflecting the scale and specialization of a long‑established component‑driven manufacturing base.
The region is home to global headquarters, including Generac Power Systems, a Fortune 1000 leader in residential, commercial, and industrial backup power and energy storage; Regal Rexnord, a global manufacturer of power transmission, motors, and motion control products; and Enerpac Tool Group, a global leader in industrial hydraulics and motion solutions. Ingeteam, a Spanish manufacturer of alternative energy equipment based in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley, maintains major operations in the region. Together with hundreds of small and mid-sized component manufacturers and engineering firms, our local companies form one of the densest energy and controls manufacturing ecosystems in the United States.
National-average employment concentration
(location quotient 4.38)
In annual Wisconsin industry sales
Wisconsin companies in the ecosystem
%
Wisconsin manufacturing tax rate
A national hub for clean energy and smart-grid technologies
The Milwaukee region is a nationally recognized hub for clean energy and smart-grid technologies, home to companies developing renewable power equipment, grid-scale energy storage, and the components that make distributed energy systems work. Ingeteam manufactures wind power converters and other renewable energy equipment from its Menomonee Valley plant. Modine Manufacturing is an international pioneer in thermal management technologies, increasingly central to electric vehicle and energy-storage systems. Magnetek and Enerpac serve the power-inverter market that supports wind and solar generation, and Eaton's Cooper Power Systems produces integrated smart-grid technologies that optimize the performance of utility distribution networks.
Academic-industry partnerships drive next-generation energy R&D
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University, the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison work alongside regional manufacturers to develop the next generation of talent across energy storage, microgrid, and power-electronics technologies. The Power Energy Lab at UW-Milwaukee, a collaboration between the university, the Wisconsin Energy Institute at UW-Madison, and regional industry partners, links academic research with industrial product innovation, focusing on energy storage systems with longer life and higher capacity.
A utility partner committed to clean power
We Energies, the region's primary utility, has been named one of the top 10 Utility Green Power Programs in the nation by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The utility is retiring older coal-fueled generating units and investing in utility-scale solar generation, balancing reliability and affordability with a long-term commitment to lower-carbon power. The city of Milwaukee's Environmental Collaboration Office and Better Buildings Challenge support deep energy-efficiency investment across municipal and participating commercial buildings, with the goal of cutting building energy use by 20% over a decade.
A talent pipeline built for technical industries
Engineering and technical talent is the foundation of the region's competitive advantage. Within the seven-county Milwaukee region, four world-class technical colleges and three four-year engineering schools (the Milwaukee School of Engineering, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Marquette University) graduate thousands of students each year in electrical engineering, power electronics, mechatronics, and related disciplines. Within a 90-mile radius, 212 colleges and universities feed the region's pipeline of engineers, computer scientists, and skilled technicians, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Northwestern University.
Leading energy and controls manufacturers
"Milwaukee was just stunning, pristine.
I thought, God, this place is heaven on earth."
SATYA NADELLA
CEO of Microsoft and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee graduate
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Expansion or relocation is always a challenge. The Milwaukee 7 Partnership is your local advocate, simplifying and streamlining the investment process.
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