Powering Ahead-Together: The ASEA/Magnus Story

Two companies can compete for years—and still recognize when collaboration becomes the smarter engineering move.At the Palm Beach Boat Show, host Kristina Hebert sits down with Richard Gaudet, President of ASEA Power Systems & Marine Power at Mission Critical Electronics, and Matthew Scales, Managing Director of Magnus Marine, to unpack the real story behind their new alliance—and what it signals for the future of shore power in the marine industry.The discussion highlights the product that quickly made the partnership tangible: a dockside shore power frequency converter. ASEA contributes extensive field experience, including designs proven in South Florida hurricane conditions, while Magnus brings higher-power capabilities and expertise in containerized solutions. Together, these strengths create a scalable range of dockside converters—from 75 kVA to 250 kVA and beyond—designed to support marinas serving yachts without onboard frequency conversion. It also explores how demand is emerging at the dock, with operators such as Safe Harbor advancing dockside conversion as a standard offering.The focus then broadens to examine key trends shaping marine electrical infrastructure. These include evolving configurations like 208V 60Hz split-phase systems, containerized solutions for space-constrained environments, and the potential role of battery energy storage in increasing effective capacity where grid limitations exist. Additional insights address the U.S. superyacht refit market, including the shift of some work to Europe and how improved dockside power solutions could help restore competitiveness among domestic refit yards. The episode concludes with a preview of new technology expected this fall and a potential follow-up at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show.Listeners are encouraged to subscribe to the Wards Way Podcast, share the episode with professionals in marine operations or marina management, and leave a review to support future discussions.Wards Marine Electrichttps://www.wardsmarine.com/Wards Way YouTube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/@WardsWay75