Intelligent low-voltage breakers for industrial microgrids

Deliver future-ready systems with intelligent, low-voltage breakers that improve reliability, efficiency, and cost control—without increasing complexity.

The ongoing shift from centralized power generation to distributed energy resources is helping industrial energy users boost resilience, lower costs, and integrate onsite renewables for cleaner, more efficient operations. However, this dynamic mix of centralized and onsite generation creates new challenges. Smarter low-voltage automation solutions allow OEMs to offer their industrial customers a path forward, simplifying control of onsite systems with intelligent, integrated devices that improve reliability, enhance energy efficiency, and tighten cost management without adding complexity.

From backup power generation to microgrids

In recent years, many industrial facilities have moved from standby generators to integrated microgrids that combine onsite generation, storage, and intelligent controls. According to the Think Microgrid 2024 State Scorecard, U.S. microgrid capacity reflected sustained annual growth, reaching nearly 9 GW by late 2024. The industrial drivers are clear: 

Increase resiliency needed to ride out grid disturbances
Safeguard process continuity to avoid costly interruptions
Reduce energy consumption through the use of onsite resources
Lower costs with tighter control over power sources
Meet sustainability expectations without sacrificing performance

Three essential microgrid applications

For industrial users to realize the benefits of a microgrid, OEMs must help them implement three foundational applications. Together, these applications keep critical loads online, protect equipment, and manage energy use.

Automatic transfer switching (ATS) continuously monitors power sources and automatically shifts the load from the grid to alternate power sources when an outage or unacceptable drop in power quality is detected. Unlike a traditional manual transfer switch, which requires an operator to recognize the problem and physically move the load, the ATS executes this sequence in seconds, then safely returns the system to the primary power source once stable power is restored.

For industrial users, the primary benefit is seamless power continuity. During blackouts and brownouts, the ATS keeps critical processes and safety systems energized. It also delivers significant safety advantages by eliminating ad hoc manual switching and preventing dangerous back-feeding onto utility lines. Finally, an ATS helps protect sensitive equipment, such as drives, PLCs, and control systems, from voltage sags, sudden loss of power, and transients that can cause a malfunction or damage.
Load shedding is often associated with power utilities cutting power to protect the grid during periods of unusually high demand. Industrial power users can also shed loads within a facility when power is constrained. Smart load-shedding schemes use priorities and real-time measurements to disconnect lower priority equipment first, keeping essential systems online.

Load shedding helps maintain system continuity for critical processes by ensuring that motors, controls, safety systems, and other vital loads remain energized even when total demand must be reduced. It prevents overloads on generators, transformers, and feeders by trimming demand before equipment hits damaging levels, and it lowers the risk of wider plant-level or microgrid outages that can occur if the system collapses under excess load.
Power controllers continuously monitor real-time consumption, automatically adjusting, sequencing, or shedding loads to keep total demand within predefined limits or contractual thresholds. For industrial users, this delivers several advantages: it helps avoid peak demand penalties and unnecessary usage by shaving short-term spikes before they hit the utility meter. It also supports stable operations during supply constraints or load-shedding events by managing which loads stay online and which can be deferred.

Integrating protection and control at the breaker

Traditional industrial power systems often stitch together separate devices, creating complex wiring, potential configuration conflicts, and multiple points of failure. A more recent innovation from ABB uses an integrated approach, with the low-voltage circuit breaker serving as the platform, embedding ATS, load-shedding, and power controllers.

During a power disruption, the breaker orchestrates the system’s response, isolating the facility and automatically shifting to protection settings tailored for generator or islanded operation. Before starting backup generation, the breaker executes prioritized load-shedding, disconnecting non-critical loads, then initiates automatic transfer once generator voltage and frequency are within limits. When grid conditions stabilize, it reestablishes the connection while embedded power-control functions continue to shave peaks and manage non-priority loads to meet demand and capacity targets.

For OEMs and industrial customers, consolidating these capabilities into the breaker means fewer external devices, simpler architectures, and reduced panel space, along with easier engineering, commissioning, and maintenance. Embedded logic and signaling modules can scale control across multiple feeders and non-priority loads without adding dedicated relays or controllers on every circuit. Ultimately, this integrated approach supports reliability and energy-efficiency goals, helping facilities meet tightening sustainability requirements while keeping capital and operating costs under control.

Help your customers stay future ready

As industrial power systems grow more decentralized and complex, embedding smart automation in low-voltage breakers transforms a required protection device into an intelligent control hub that can manage transfer, load shedding, and demand in real time. Consolidating functions into a single, configurable platform addresses the industrial customers’ top priorities in one step: higher reliability and process continuity through faster, more selective responses to disturbances, better energy efficiency via peak shaving and optimized use of onsite resources, and more manageable complexity.

For facilities transitioning to decentralized power generation, OEMs can upgrade customers to intelligent trip units and software over time, extending the life of existing switchgear while steadily improving reliability and control. By treating circuit breakers as key enablers of smarter, more sustainable industrial power systems, OEMs can help customers create the next generation of power-efficient facilities.

See related blog post “Smarter breakers enable higher-performing panels.”