Global corporate electricity consumption is expected to grow from 11,579 TWH in 2023 to 14,704 TWH in 2030, with Asia’s share increasing from 50 percent to 57 percent over the same period, according to global technology consultancy ABI Research.

Much of this growth will be driven by widespread electrification of verticals.

“Business and industry electricity consumption will rise dramatically as everyone embraces a wide range of ‘electric’ devices, including electric vehicles for employee and commercial use; electric heating, ventilation and cooling systems; AGVs and mobile robots in warehouses and manufacturing plants; and electric heavy equipment and autonomous vehicles deployed in mining sites, ports, airports and campuses.” Dominique Bonte, vice president of Vertical and end markets at ABI Research, explains.

Vertical industries will increasingly rely on an uninterrupted supply of high-quality power to continuously run their mission-critical processes, maximizing uptime and associated profitability.

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system avoids equipment damage caused by brief power outages, enabling managed shutdowns and preserving critical data.

For longer outages, battery energy storage systems (BESS) can provide longer periods of autonomy, often combined with on-site microgrids to generate electricity from renewable sources and provide additional resilience through their inherent independence from the public grid.

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In terms of electrification and on-site power generation, the following industries are smart energy leaders:

Mining operations – electric mining transporters (WAE Technologies, Fortescue Metals Group and Liebherr); DC-DC converters and charging infrastructure; On-site solar power plants and battery storage, many of which are powered by Hitachi Energy (Western Australia-Agnew Gold Mine, Sandfire’s DeGrussa mine, Newman’s Roy Hill mine; Indonesia – Bontang Mine in Indo Tambangraya Megah).
Data centers – All major data center and cloud operators have committed to fully decarbonize on-site renewable power generation and/or battery storage by 2030 (Google, Microsoft, IBM) or 2040 (Amazon) to avoid the use of diesel generators.
Manufacturing plant, warehouse and supply chain – rooftop PV panels and battery storage (Hitachi Zhongshan Transformer Manufacturing Base plant has 1.2 MW PV capacity and 1 MW battery storage capacity); Hydrogen-powered forklifts and material handling equipment; Net zero delivery (Amazon); Food and medicine cold chain.
All major smart energy technology companies, including Siemens, GE, Hitachi, ABB, Honeywell, and Schneider Electric, are aggressively targeting verticals as part of their new business expansion strategies to move beyond their traditional energy utility customer base, enabling businesses and industries to embark on their own smart energy journey.

The findings come from the Enterprise and Industry Smart Energy Report, which is part of ABI Research’s Enterprise and Industry Smart Energy research services, including research, data, and ABI Insights. The analysis report provides an in-depth analysis of key market trends and factors for specific technologies based on extensive preliminary interviews.