ABB Report Shows How a 0.2 Percent Motor Efficiency Gain Could Unlock Billions for Industry
Report examines a decade of data for over 1,000 large motors and generators delivered globally by ABB’s Västerås facility in Sweden.
The company’s new report, The Industrial Efficiency Gap, focuses on motors rated above 375 kW, which ABB says currently account for an estimated 10.4 per cent of global electricity demand. That share is projected to double by 2040.
The report is based on a decade of data from ABB’s manufacturing facility in Västerås, Sweden. It examines more than 1,000 large synchronous motors and generators delivered worldwide between 2015 and 2025.
According to ABB, the data shows a persistent efficiency gap between equipment that is routinely specified and what can be achieved through the company’s Top Industrial Efficiency, or TIE, approach. The approach focuses on specifying the highest-efficiency motor or generator using proven, commercially available technology.
Applied across the global installed base of similar equipment, ABB estimates that a 0.2 percentage-point efficiency gap costs operators between 9.5 and 12 billion dollars in unnecessary electricity costs and generates 60 to 75 million tonnes of avoidable CO₂ over a 25-year asset life. The typical payback period ranges from a few months to up to three years.
Specification Gap, Not Technology Gap
Industrial energy efficiency is becoming more important as the global energy transition accelerates. Rising electricity demand from AI and data centres is adding pressure to power systems, while industry is also seeking to strengthen security of supply.
“Industry has spent decades optimizing what happens inside a plant. Yet large motors and generators have rarely been part of that conversation, even though they run continuously for 25 years and sometimes even more, converting more energy to motion than almost anything else on site,” said David Bjerhag, Global Business Line Manager, High Speed Synchronous, ABB.
“The gap between a standard machine and a TIE-optimized one is not technological. It is a specification gap. The companies closing it fastest are the ones where the engineer who selects the motor and the CFO or CSO responsible for energy performance are aligned around a single metric: total cost of ownership.”
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