Planned technology centre could create thousands of jobs
The canton of Aargau wants to create the conditions to make the Tägerhardächer area in Wettingen available to Hitachi Energy as a site. According to the cantonal government, this could secure 1000 existing jobs in Aargau and attract up to 2000 new ones.
Wettingen is one of Hitachi Energy AG‘s favoured locations in the current exploratory phase. In order to enable the Zurich-based Swiss subsidiary of the internationally active Japanese industrial group to decide in favour of Wettingen, the cantonal government has now applied to the cantonal parliament to amend the structure plan in the Tägerhardächer area of Wettingen accordingly. The establishment of the Hitachi campus in Wettingen “could secure 1,000 existing jobs in Aargau and create up to 2,000 new jobs, strengthen the economy of the Limmat Valley and further develop the regional infrastructure”, according to a statement from the canton.
According to the canton, the economic importance of the project was recognised by a large majority during the consultation and participation process, which ended on 27 March 2026. However, the valuable agricultural land to be rezoned was criticised. The impact on the settlement separation belt and the Sulperg-Rüsler landscape corridor as well as concerns about additional traffic were also raised.
However, after examining the objections, the canton came to the conclusion that there was an “overriding interest” in the planned settlement and that there were no spatial conflicts. The regional planning association and the local municipality also view the project favourably. The interests and reservations of the neighbouring municipalities would be taken into account in the further processing.
Hitachi Energy has yet to make a decision. Should the company decide against Wettingen, all considerations and plans would be cancelled.