Perfect partners: ABB and Microsoft improve energy efficiency for industrial organizations

From start-ups to multinational enterprises, industrial organizations are looking to improve energy efficiency with an eye to mitigating rising energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions →01-02. Two companies that are helping businesses around the globe realize this goal are Microsoft and ABB.

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_{Jens Kammerer ABB Electrification Heidelberg, Germany, jens.kammerer@de.abb.com; Eric Jackson Microsoft Switzerland Zürich, Switzerland}

Microsoft’s cloud and analytics services support ABB in helping customers meet their sustainability goals. They do so through the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and through energy appraisals and smart energy management solutions that sustain better decisions on ways to save energy, lower CO₂ emissions and boost a company’s overall operational efficiency. Among the many areas in which the two companies have made common cause is in optimizing the energy efficiency of motor-driven systems.  

Sometimes referred to as the “first fuel,” energy efficiency is a key piece of the puzzle when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions within industry. Indeed, a recent survey [1] commissioned by ABB found that energy efficiency is a priority issue for executives around the world. Eighty-nine percent of industrial leaders surveyed intend to increase investment in the energy efficiency of their operations in the coming five years, with 54 percent aiming to achieve net-zero emissions in that timeframe. Major steps in this direction have already been undertaken. For example, although worldwide energy demand is predicted to grow, an International  Energy Agency (IEA) analysis of nine large countries and regions, including China, the European Union and the United States, found that efficiency standards helped to save about 1,500 TWh in 2018 [2]. This was equivalent to the total electricity generated in 2018 in those countries by wind and solar facilities.  

The cooperation between Microsoft and ABB is a case in point. Recently, for instance, Microsoft joined the Energy Efficiency Movement [3]. The Movement, a multi-stakeholder initiative launched by ABB in 2021, is designed to raise awareness and spur action to reduce energy consumption and combat climate change. Com­panies are invited to join The Movement and make a public pledge as a way of inspiring others to take action. To date, more than 350 companies have joined The Movement, with Microsoft being one of the largest organizations to join.  

Insights from energy appraisals

Concretely, key Microsoft and ABB technologies enhance each other’s energy efficiency offerings in a number of areas. For instance, by acting on insights gathered from the ABB Ability™ Digital Powertrain Energy Appraisal solution, Swedish flooring manufacturer Tarkett was able to use data gathered from 10 connected motors to improve the motors’ efficiency from 80 percent to 95 percent, thus saving 800 MWh per year.  

Similarly, an ABB Ability Digital Powertrain Energy Appraisal recently helped Swedish pulp producer Waggeryd to pinpoint places where energy savings could be made. This was accomplished by mounting sensors on the mill’s motors to collect and transmit data to the ABB Ability™ Condition Monitoring system. The system analyzes the information to provide key operational equipment parameters and provide early warnings regarding potential trouble that may be developing, for example when a bearing may be trending toward higher vibrations – and possible failure [4].  

To summarize, appraisals based on ABB and Microsoft technologies offer the following benefits:
• Reducing energy waste and costs by identifying energy-intensive applications, finding ways to cut energy waste, and obtaining an estimate of potential cost savings.
• Cutting CO₂ emissions, thus helping to meet local environmental regulations and meet the customer’s sustainability goals.
• Lowering total operating costs as a result of rapid payback from investing in, for example, high-efficiency motors and drives and the impact on the total cost of ownership of reducing energy consumption.
• Minimal disruption to operations since appraisals are carried out without any impact on a facility’s operations. New equipment recommended by the appraisal can be installed during routine maintenance shutdowns, thereby minimizing disruption to production.

Powering optimization

One key area in which ABB and Microsoft are working to enable greater energy efficiency is the operation of motor-driven systems →03-04. Worldwide, there are over 300 million such systems and they account for 70 percent of the electricity consumed by industry [5]. Using Microsoft Azure’s platform-as-a-service capability, along with AI and machine learning-based analytics, cloud computing and edge technologies, ABB Ability solutions are optimizing the efficiency of motor-driven systems in a wide array of applications that range from manufacturing and buildings to agriculture →05,[6].  

Another energy efficiency solution is ABB ­Ability™ Energy Manager, which is built on a state-of-the-art cloud architecture for data collection, processing and storage. The architecture was developed together with Microsoft to enhance performance and guarantee a high level of reliability and security for industrial assets. This Azure-enabled solution supports the collection and storage of data from ABB devices installed in low- and medium-voltage distribution systems in a wide range of industrial and commercial facilities →06. The solution allows customers to consolidate data from a wide variety of sensors, secure data from edge device to application and apply AI-based analytics to make sense of data and drive smarter decisions about how energy is used. The ABB Ability Energy Manager solution enables actionable insights into energy usage that can reduce electrical costs by up to 30 percent, save up to 40 percent on maintenance costs, improve energy efficiency by up to 10 percent, and save up to 20 percent on energy bills [7]. Azure’s compute, storage, security and analytics capabilities have allowed ABB to develop energy efficiency offerings serving a cross-section of industrial and commercial use cases with greater scalability, cyber security and consumption model flexibility.  

Toward carbon-neutral operations

In 2019, ABB launched its Mission to Zero™ program, which seeks to help customers achieve carbon neutrality by leveraging energy management solutions associated with electrification, distributed energy and renewable energy. The initiative aims to “walk the talk” on energy efficiency by demonstrably reducing greenhouse gas emissions across ABB’s operations while building up a customer-facing commercial offering around decarbonization services, all powered by a broad network of partners such as Microsoft. Since the program’s inception, Microsoft has been a close implementation partner along the journey towards carbon neutrality, supporting ABB Ability digital solutions with its Azure cloud services and ecosystem. ABB is integrating a number of solutions with the recently launched Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability and has begun deployment of these capabilities in its own manufacturing plants under the umbrella of the Mission to Zero™ program.  

The first joint installation is currently underway in the ABB Electrification Smart Buildings factory in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The project uses building management and other applications on top of the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability to deliver transparency and automated monitoring and reporting. With the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive requiring that companies apply the new rules for the first time in 2024 [8], ABB digital solutions will serve as a key data input and aggregator for automated reporting through the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability.  

Partnering for innovation

In 2021, SynerLeap, ABB’s global innovation growth hub, began working with Microsoft for Startups to bring the two companies’ accelerator arms together to speed up co-creation and scaling. Working with Microsoft and Synerleap, ABB has successfully identified new partnerships and integrated innovation into the ABB Ability portfolio.  

Supported by Microsoft, ABB’s range of digitally enabled solutions and life cycle services help companies continuously optimize the energy efficiency of their assets, reduce energy consumption, and limit CO₂ emissions [9]. As digitization continues to progress, data-driven services will continue to make it easier for companies to achieve their sustainability goals through improved energy efficiency.  

Looking to the future, Microsoft and ABB continue to develop and explore existing and potential collaboration opportunities. For example, enabling more accurate, efficient sustainability data collection and reporting within ABB and bringing ABB Ability energy efficiency-­focused solutions into Microsoft’s Cloud for Sustainability.  

Combining ABB’s domain expertise in electrification and automation with Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform shows how collaboration with a shared mission can create innovative solutions addressing global challenges.

_{References  
[1] ABB. “Accelerating ambition: How global industry is speeding up investment in energy efficiency” Available: https://www.energyefficiencymovement.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ABB-Energy-Efficiency-Survey-Report-2022.pdf [Accessed April 6, 2023.]  
[2] IEA. “Energy Efficiency 2021”, p. 17. Available: https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-efficiency-2021 [Accessed April 6, 2023.]  
[3] ABB. “The future is energy efficient”. White paper. Available: https://www.energyefficiencymovement.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ABB_EE_WhitePaper_Motion-Services_011222.pdf [Accessed April 6, 2023]  
[4] ABB Energy Appraisal Highlights. Available: https://new.abb.com/service/motion/data-and-advisory-services/energy-appraisal [Accessed April 17, 2023.]  
[5] EIA. “International Energy Outlook 2021”, p. 12. Available: https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/ieo/ [Accessed April 6, 2023.]  
[6] ABB. Pure Harvest smart farms thrive with ABB Ability Energy Manager. Available: https://new.abb.com/news/detail/98882/pure-harvest-smart-farms-thrive-with-abb-ability-energy-manager [Accessed April 17, 2023.]  
[7] Microsoft. “ABB Ability Energy and Asset Manager” Available: https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/web-apps/abb-3963258.abb-ability-energy-asset-manager?tab=Overview) [Accessed April 6, 2023.]
[8] Official Journal of the European Union (16.12.2022Directive (EU)2022/2464 of the European Parliament and of the council, of 14 December 2022.  
[9] ABB. “Connecting physical environments connecting people” Available: https://global.abb/topic/ability/en/partners/microsoft [Accessed April 6, 2023.]}

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