Adding generation and network capacity is essential to the energy transition, but a larger electricity system is not automatically a more resilient one. As power flows become more dynamic and industrial demand grows more intensive, protection, visibility, and the ability to respond quickly are moving closer to the centre of electrical engineering decisions.
Those pressures frame the October edition of IN Power, whose cover interview features Sami Raitakoski, ABB’s Global Business Line Manager – Grid Components. Raitakoski explains how grid intelligence and automation can support more effective fault detection, isolation, and restoration, while emphasising that digitalisation must complement investment in physical infrastructure.
There is good reason for that caution. Distributed storage introduces fast-changing power flows and additional points of vulnerability, from medium-voltage earth faults to compromised remote-access systems. Centrii examines six security risk scenarios, while Cressall looks at how neutral earthing resistors help limit fault currents and protect equipment.
The commercial implications are no less important. In an analysis of five electricity supply offers for the same 600 kWh battery, Catalyst Commercial calculates outcomes ranging from a £919 annual loss to a £23,075 return. Hardware specifications are identical; the contract changes.
Data centres present another test of the industry’s assumptions. PA Consulting cites around 140 British projects seeking approximately 50 GW of transmission capacity, although not all will proceed. It considers how flexible connections, better siting decisions, and more intelligent planning could bring capacity online sooner.
Even within the data centre, capacity is useful only when systems operate together. Eaton reviews the case for 800VDC distribution in high-density AI racks, while APX examines hybrid cooling halls where separately specified air and liquid systems interact through shared infrastructure. Individually compliant equipment can still create a commissioning problem at the interface between systems, where avoidable delays and additional costs emerge.
