The digital transformation of energy management
As electrical consumption continues to rise, OEMs can help industrial users make smart energy management decisions by ensuring their critical systems are digital-ready.
Industry 4.0 runs on electricity
Industry 4.0 advancements, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, 3D printing, and other forms of digital technology, have made a huge operational impact on businesses. As amazing as these innovations have been, they all have one thing in common: They require electrical power.
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), total U.S. electricity consumption in 2022 was about 4.07 trillion kWh, the highest ever recorded and 14 times the electricity used in 1950.1 Industrial users, particularly manufacturers, accounted for 26% of total electricity sales. Industry 4.0 advancements and increased electrification are set to drive consumption even higher.
Top industrial energy management priorities
Given their reliance on electrical power, energy management concerns remain top of mind for many business leaders. Top objectives include:
Reducing unplanned downtime. Loss of power could cause customers to lose critical services and the organization to fail to meet their contractual obligations – a particularly problematic issue for energy-intensive businesses like data centers. For other industries, like semiconductor and pharmaceutical manufacturing, even small fluctuations in power can create safety and product quality issues.
Reducing maintenance. Drops in power quality can damage expensive assets, increasing costs and unplanned downtime. Workforce shortages are also inciting operations managers to place a higher priority on reducing maintenance. High retirement rates and fewer young workers choosing manufacturing and electrical fields mean companies often need to do more with fewer people. Employing techniques such as condition-based maintenance can help them focus limited resources.
Controlling operational costs. Budget conscious organizations are also embracing techniques such as peak shaving, the practice of reducing electricity consumption during times of high demand. This can include spotting unusual consumption patterns that indicate issues such as a machine that is slowly losing efficiency or left idling when not in use.
Controlling capital costs. Reducing maintenance is one way to control operational costs but monitoring asset health can also help control capital costs. Components often come with an anticipated life span but may last for years beyond their expiration date. Instead of replacing components that have reached the end of their anticipated life cycle, monitoring asset health can also focus capital budgets on those assets that need to be replaced.
Reducing carbon footprint. Some organizations have set sustainability goals as part of a larger social governance initiative. Others are just as interested in taking advantage of tax breaks and other incentives that can be had from meeting these goals. Often, this requires adopting new forms of energy, including distributed energy resources in the form of renewables. While beneficial to meeting targets, renewables can create power quality reliability issues that need to be monitored.
An industrial revolution in energy management systems
Energy management systems play a critical role even if they aren’t often listed among the stars of the fourth industrial revolution. With increasing electrification of operations, meeting each of the energy management priorities mentioned above will require systems that provide deeper insights and understanding into the electrical systems that keep the power flowing.
OEMs can enable their customers by designing digital-ready systems. This starts with selecting quality components equipped with sensors that can gather data and transmit it, in a vendor-agnostic format, to the next generation of management systems. These systems are broken down into a few different categories:
SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) are comprehensive systems that collect data from every part of the organization, from building management (e.g., HVAC, lighting, security, etc.) to the shop floor. These systems are often highly customized and a great option for larger entities with more complex needs, such as hyperscale data center operators. Smaller organizations may find Asset Management or Energy Management Systems a more affordable way to achieve their goals.
Asset Management Systems monitor the health of assets, including electrical systems and the equipment they power. The ABB Ability™ Energy Manager with asset health monitoring is a good example of this type of system. This platform provides insight across industrial processes including electrification, robotics, and automation. The platforms’ modular design allows the business to control costs by only adding those components that matter most.
Energy Management Systems are more narrowly focused on energy usage and can be used standalone or alongside more comprehensive SCADA-like systems. In addition to being a low-cost entry point, these systems are quick to deploy. Users of ABB Ability Energy Manager suite are often up and running in less than a day.
OEMs lead the way
While OEMs are not always involved with implementing software applications themselves, they play a very important role in the digital transformation of energy management. Every category of energy management system listed above requires intelligent components capable of gathering critical data. In many ways, these components are also going through a digital revolution of their own.
For decades, circuit breakers have been seen as standalone devices used solely for protection. Now, ABB’s SACE® Emax 2 and SACE® Tmax® XT low-voltage circuit breakers equipped with Ekip Touch Trip Units have transformed these ubiquitous devices into powerful watchdogs, enabling real time monitoring of critical systems for increased energy efficiency and enhanced safety.
Supporting a wide range of industry-standard communications protocols, the Ekip Trip Units transmit critical data to energy management apps like ABB Ability Energy Manager. ABB also offers a standalone EPiC App for real-time access to circuit breaker information from outside the arc flash boundary, helping frontline managers identify and address potential problems – from a safe distance.
The ABB Lite Panel Pro or the ABB Ability™ Edge Industrial Gateway, are other examples of OEM-delivered solutions for the digitalization of energy management. These versatile components, when combined with other digitally enabled devices, are designed for local monitoring of connected low voltage devices. Again, this data can be sent to systems such as ABB Ability Energy Manager to allow facility and building managers to monitor and manage energy efficiency.
These are just a couple of examples of how ABB developers are working with our OEM partners to enable the digital transformation of energy management. We invite you to explore some of our current portfolio options in the links below. Then, stay tuned as this market is developing quickly and new, even more advanced solutions are always under development.
- ABB Ability Energy Manager
- SACE® Tmax® XT
- SACE® Emax 2
- Ekip UP+
- EPiC App
- ABB Ability Edge Industrial Gateway
- ABB Lite Panel Pro
- Relion® product family of breakers
- Circuit Monitoring System (CMS)
See related blog post “Apps build both safety and a path toward digitalization”.
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Mike Hoppe
US Product Marketing Director – Digital Portfolio
Mike Dutoit
Product Marketing Manager
John McHale
ABB AbilityTM – Smart Power
- Use of Electricity, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/use-of-electricity.php ↩︎
