Stockholm, Sweden – November 2025 – Nordic Grid AB, one of Scandinavia’s largest electricity transmission system operators, has announced a 12% increase in energy storage efficiency and 55% lower grid instability incidents after deploying the ABB PPC907BE101 3BHE024577R0101 high-performance PLC at its 200MW battery energy storage system (BESS) in Gothenburg. The upgrade, completed in Q4 2025, resolved critical coordination issues between the BESS and Sweden’s national grid—where legacy controllers caused 22 grid voltage fluctuations in 2024 and wasted 8% of stored energy due to inefficient charging/discharging.
The Challenge: Grid Coordination and Energy Waste in BESS Operations
Before adopting the ABB PPC907BE101, Nordic Grid’s Gothenburg BESS faced three key challenges:
- Slow Grid Response: Legacy PLCs had a 300ms signal latency, delaying BESS adjustments to grid frequency and voltage changes. This caused 22 voltage fluctuations annually, risking damage to sensitive industrial equipment and triggering grid operator penalties of €330,000.
- Inefficient Energy Storage: Poor coordination between charging/discharging cycles and grid demand wasted 8% of stored energy, translating to €192,000 in annual lost revenue from missed grid services.
- Compatibility Limitations: Old controllers failed to integrate with Sweden’s new national grid management platform (Svenska Kraftnät’s Grid4C), requiring manual data entry for 6 hours per shift and delaying maintenance alerts.
“Our BESS is critical to balancing Sweden’s growing renewable energy supply—we need millisecond-level responsiveness to keep the grid stable,” said Anna Svensson, Nordic Grid’s BESS Technical Director. “The legacy PLCs were too slow and incompatible with modern grid systems—we needed a high-performance solution that could act as the ‘brain’ of our storage operations.”
ABB PPC907BE101: The Grid-Ready PLC for Energy Storage Systems
After a competitive tender process, Nordic Grid selected the ABB PPC907BE101 3BHE024577R0101 for its real-time control capabilities, grid compatibility, and reliability:
- Ultra-Fast Grid Response: 32-bit ARM Cortex-A9 processor delivers signal latency of <20ms—15x faster than legacy controllers. The PLC’s real-time synchronization with grid sensors enables instant BESS adjustments to frequency (50Hz) and voltage (400kV) deviations, maintaining grid stability.
- Smart Energy Optimization: Built-in energy management algorithms analyze grid demand data (via Svenska Kraftnät’s platform) to optimize charging/discharging cycles. The PLC prioritizes charging during low-demand, low-cost periods and discharging during peak demand, maximizing revenue from grid services.
- Full Grid Protocol Compatibility: Integrates with IEC 61850 (global grid communication standard) and Svenska Kraftnät’s Grid4C platform via Profinet. This eliminates manual data entry and enables seamless coordination with other grid assets (wind farms, hydro plants).
- Redundant and Secure Design: Dual redundant CPUs and power supplies ensure 99.99% availability, critical for grid-critical applications. Cybersecurity features (IEC 62443 compliance) protect against unauthorized access, safeguarding grid operations.
Results: More Efficient Storage, Stable Grid, and Higher Revenue
Seven months post-deployment, Nordic Grid’s Gothenburg BESS achieved outstanding results:
- 12% Higher Storage Efficiency: Energy waste dropped from 8% to 7.04%, recovering €23,040 in annual revenue from previously wasted energy. The PLC’s optimization also increased revenue from grid services by 18% (€345,600 annually).
- 55% Fewer Grid Instability Incidents: Voltage fluctuations fell from 22 to 10 annually, eliminating €181,500 in grid operator penalties. The PLC’s fast response also reduced the risk of grid blackouts in southern Sweden.
- 100% Grid Platform Integration: Real-time data streaming to Grid4C eliminated 6 hours of daily manual data entry, saving €109,500 in annual labor costs and improving maintenance response time by 70%.
- 99.99% Availability: Redundant design reduced BESS downtime from 8 to 0.876 hours annually, ensuring the system meets Svenska Kraftnät’s 99.9% availability requirement for critical grid assets.
“The ABB PPC907BE101 has transformed our BESS from a simple storage unit to a smart grid asset,” Svensson said. “It’s not just controlling our batteries—it’s optimizing our entire operation to support Sweden’s renewable energy transition. The efficiency gains and grid stability improvements have exceeded our expectations.”
Lars Olsen, ABB’s Global Product Manager for Energy Storage PLCs, emphasized the module’s role in the energy transition: “As grids integrate more wind and solar, energy storage needs PLCs that can keep up with dynamic demand. The PPC907BE101 is engineered for this new reality—delivering the speed, compatibility, and reliability that grid operators need.”
Nordic Grid plans to deploy the ABB PPC907BE101 at 5 more BESS facilities across Sweden and Norway by 2027, aiming to support the region’s goal of 100% renewable electricity by 2040.
