Q&A: ABB Electrification Service on securing grid resilience for businesses

Claire Jenns

Tue, Jun 17, 2025, 12:07 PM 5 min read

The vulnerability of power grids is growing worldwide, leading businesses to reevaluate their use of centralised power. With operational continuity front of mind, there is increasing exploration into strategies such as prosumerism and distributed energy resources (DERs) alongside energy storage solutions.

ABB Electrification Service’s global head of strategy, Matthew Wise, explains how businesses are navigating today’s shifting power landscape.

Matthew Wise (MW): Of course, the major outages in Spain and Portugal and Heathrow Airport remain front of mind as they highlight two different elements of grid vulnerability.

The substation at Heathrow was commissioned in the 1960s with two transformers. While transformers can last a long time in good condition, this draws attention to the fact that there is an enormous amount of ageing grid infrastructure out there. Equipment needs to be kept updated at a high level of maintenance with ongoing service interventions and continuous asset health monitoring.

The blackout in Spain and Portugal highlights the need for dynamic, smart and digitally enabled systems as it was caused by a dramatic frequency drop. As grids get more complex through local generation coming online, digital solutions can help manage this as we move away from a large, centralised, high-inertia and fossil fuel-driven power station model towards more DERs.

MW: What we are seeing now is companies increasingly looking at their energy systems as a critical operational piece on the same level as – or even more so than – digital transformation upgrades, which build up internal capabilities. This is a significant shift in mindset.

Data centres have been a catalyst. Power outages are the number one source of downtime, with the average cost of an incident for data centres just tipping over $1m. So, this is financially critical and businesses are taking it more seriously amongst volatile energy markets. Solutions are needed to ensure business continuity regardless of energy system evolution.

MW: We believe in battery energy storage systems (BESS) for commercial and industrial installations. BESS are being used to bring stability and inertia to the grid. There are enormous projects in development, such as the Edwards and Sanborn facility in California, which is going from strength to strength.