New digital service determines energy savings potential

A new digital service from ABB will enable industrial companies to identify the motor-driven systems in their plants with the greatest potential for energy savings, improving energy efficiency and sustainability. "ABB Ability Digital Powertrain Energy Appraisal" will use measurement data from entire fleets of digitally networked electric motors to show where and how much energy can be saved by upgrading to high-efficiency technologies. On this basis, industrial companies can then make data-driven decisions when prioritizing their investments.

Upgrading to energy-efficient technology is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to reduce energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions. There are 300 million engine-powered systems in use in industry worldwide. If they were converted to high-efficiency systems, global electricity consumption could be reduced by up to ten percent.

"The challenge for an industrial operation with several hundred electric motors is to get started," said Michael Pfeffer, head of service at ABB Motion Germany. "ABB developed the new service to help maximize energy efficiency gains, reduce operating costs and lower CO2 emissions by analyzing motor data and identifying investment priorities."

Waggeryd Cell, operator of a pulp mill in southern Sweden with industry-leading energy efficiency, is already reaping the benefits of the new solution. The company wanted to improve the efficiency of its energy-intensive processes, building on its ABB Ability condition monitoring system. The condition monitoring solution analyzes data from digitally networked motors in grinding units, process pumps, fans and conveyor belts. ABB experts used this data to perform energy assessments with its new Digital Powertrain Energy Appraisal service solution, which allowed them to determine the ten motors with the greatest potential for energy efficiency improvements. Waggeryd can significantly reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by replacing six of these motors.

Until now, an energy efficiency assessment has required the time-consuming manual collection and analysis of data, and only the largest motor-driven systems with the presumed greatest energy savings potential are considered. The significant savings potential of smaller, less accessible electric drives is not as obvious and is therefore easily overlooked.

The new digital service is a plug-and-play solution for simplified energy assessment of an entire fleet of digitally networked motors, whose operating data is further collected. The solution provides deeper insights into the cost-benefit and emissions-related benefits of investing in upgrading to high-efficiency propulsion systems that are also safer and faster.