Grid stability is now a plant reliability problem

Today’s electrical grid is under mounting strain, and its instability is increasingly felt on the factory floor. For manufacturers, power quality is becoming as critical to asset management as lubrication, alignment, and other regular maintenance practices. Grid instability is a direct threat to plant reliability, asset life, and production continuity.

According to Pedro Robredo, senior vice president of Americas for ABB Electrification Service, grid stress is already showing up inside factories. “Over two-thirds of industrial businesses are already experiencing monthly outages,” he says. However, the most damaging effects often aren’t the blackouts that stop production outright. They’re the voltage fluctuations and brownouts that quietly degrade equipment over time.

As electrical demand accelerates from data centers, electrification, and automation, aging grid infrastructure is struggling to keep pace. For maintenance and reliability teams, grid instability is now a chronic stressor inside the plant. Without proactive action, its cumulative effects can shorten asset life, erode efficiency, and trigger sudden, cascading failures across tightly integrated production systems.

Grid stress is accelerating

The pressure on the electrical grid is coming from multiple directions at once, and the pace is increasing. Robredo outlined the following trends:

• Data center demand is surging at unprecedented speed.
  The rapid expansion of AI workloads, hyperscale cloud infrastructure, and continuously connected digital systems is driving electricity consumption growth at levels rarely seen in such compressed timeframes. Data centers are now among the fastest-growing segments of total load demand in many regions. Right now, Robredo estimates that data center usage of total electricity is at 3-4%, but by 2030 it could be as high as double digits.
• Aging grid infrastructure is reaching capacity limits.
  Much of the transmission and distribution infrastructure in the U.S. was built decades ago and has not been modernized at a pace consistent with rising demand. Robredo also points to an acute supply chain issue for the grid. Distribution transformers, which step down utility voltage for end users, are in short supply and require massive resources to build and transport. Manufacturing capacity and material availability have not scaled fast enough to support replacement demand, and lead times for new transformer units have extended significantly in many markets.
• Industrial electrification is intensifying load requirements.
  Manufacturers are deploying more robotics, high-speed automation, electric process heating, and digitally controlled systems. Electrification improves efficiency and precision, but it also increases dependency on stable, high-quality power. As more mechanical and hydraulic systems convert to electric platforms, facility load profiles continue to rise.
• Commercial electrification is expanding in parallel.
  Building facility electrification, EV charging infrastructure, and high-density commercial developments are adding sustained pressure to distribution networks. 

Brownouts and power fluctuations: the silent risk you can’t see

When we talk about the risks of power scarcity, we often think of blackouts. They have immediate and detrimental effects on manufacturers and production. However, Robredo says that brownouts, or voltage and frequency fluctuations, may post an even greater long-term threat to manufacturing equipment.

Even brief or minor deviations in power can quietly erode equipment performance, and it’s a silent killer. Unlike a full outage, brownouts can go unnoticed in the moment. In a connected and automated factory, the more voltage changes on industrial equipment, the more it can affect a wide range of equipment. Robredo likens the effect of unstable power to “a drop of water that keeps hitting the same point until it creates a hole,” gradually weakening plant assets until they fail suddenly all at once. 

Motors, drives, control systems, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units, and servers are constantly absorbing these deviations. Over time, heat increases, efficiency drops, and components wear prematurely. Each minor voltage fluctuation forces motors to draw additional current to maintain torque, increasing heat and accelerating insulation breakdown. Uneven power loads can cause harmonic distortion, which gets absorbed by drives and control electronics, slowly degrading internal components.

None of it is dramatic, but rather, cumulative. Maintenance teams may see no issues in equipment operation, even as performance steadily declines. The eventual cost shows up later in lost efficiency, unexpected failures, and shortened asset life.

In tightly integrated production lines, silent degradation rarely stays isolated. As one asset’s performance drifts, upstream and downstream equipment compensates, amplifying stress across the system.

5 ways outages hit the factory floor

1. Blackouts cost manufacturers.
   When power events escalate beyond fluctuations, the impact becomes immediate and expensive. Downtime remains the most visible cost, particularly in energy-intensive industries.
2. The mix of legacy equipment and advanced electronics is complicating power infrastructure.
   Many industrial facilities are operating with electrical architectures designed for a different era. Power systems that once supported relatively simple loads are now expected to handle variable-speed drives, robotics, digital controls, and sensitive electronics, along with absorbing external grid disturbances. The increased use of electronics and digitally controlled assets only increases the system’s sensitivity to power fluctuations.
3. Safety systems introduce another layer of risk. 
   Emergency shutdowns, fire suppression systems, and interlocks all depend on reliable power. When power quality is compromised, so is safety.
4. Modern plants are also deeply interconnected. 
   Conveyor systems, robotic cells, and production lines rely on tightly coupled assets and connected system. “If an asset fails, it has a ripple effect,” Robredo notes. “If one of those fails, then it really affects everything else."
5. Human factors also play a critical role. 
   As plants integrate more digital and predictive tools, workforce training becomes essential to ensure that personnel understand how to operate, maintain, and respond to complex systems.

Plants need to take action against grid instability

Despite widespread recognition of grid challenges, many manufacturers still assume that utilities will eventually resolve the problem. Robredo cautions against that mindset. Manufacturers must act proactively. 

“You have to take control of your own destiny when it comes to reliability,” he says.
Grid modernization is complex and capital-intensive, which makes it slow. Manufacturers cannot afford to wait for system-wide upgrades before addressing their own exposure.

Electrical reliability could ultimately be a business differentiator, and plants that can maintain stable operations despite grid instability gain a clear advantage.