Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. said Sunday it had opened a transformer factory in Alabama to get a toehold in the North American electric equipment market.

Located near Montgomery, the state’s capital, the $100 million facility is capable of producing some 200 power transformers of up to 500 kilovolt annually. The world’s largest shipyard broke ground in September last year.

The new plant will save the Korean company costs and time on shipping and provide a starting point to branch out into Latin America, company officials said.

“Through the Alabama factory, which will be the focal point of our operations in North America, we will firm up our position as an international electric machinery provider,” Lee Jai-seong, president and chief executive, said at a ceremony on Saturday.

Hyundai Heavy set out its power equipment business in 1977 to diversify its revenue structure, supplying circuit breakers, power distribution systems, current motors, switchgears and other tools in markets across the globe.

The shipbuilder said it had the world’s largest transformer plant in its headquarters in Ulsan, which boasts 120,000 megavolt-amperes. It also runs a smaller facility in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital.

Since 1982, it has exported more than 1,500 transformers to its North American clients, Lee said.

The U.S. transformer market will grow to $4.3 billion by 2015 from $3.9 billion in 2012 as the country continues projects to install or replace electrical systems, said Goulden Reports, a U.K.-based market research firm,

According to Electronics.ca Publications, a Canada-based consultancy, the global market is projected to reach $36 billion by 2015 on the back of upbeat demand from emerging markets such as Asia and Latin America.

“The global economic downturn dampened growth in the global transformers market recently. But the expected recovery of the global economy, continued growth in demand for electricity, and continued rise in infrastructure investments are all expected to drive the market to catch up with the previous growth trend,” the firm said in a report.

As for other electric equipment, Hyundai Heavy manufactures circuit breakers and distribution boards in China. It also launched a high-voltage circuit breaker plant in Russia last September.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)