Posted to News on 5th Jun 2026, 10:08
Grid congestion forces machine builders to rethink energy use
Grid congestion is becoming a practical constraint for industrial investment and machine design, particularly in the UK, where long waiting times for new connections and structural capacity limits are already affecting production plans, for machine builders, Lenze argues that this means a shift in priorities.
(See Lenze at Machine Building South, 8 July 2026, on stand 99)
Machines must still deliver reliable output, but within fixed energy limits. Energy efficiency is therefore moving from an operational concern to a design requirement.
Energy becomes a design variable
What Lenze sees across projects with machine builders, system integrators and end users is that energy availability can no longer be treated as a given. Design decisions now directly influence how much operational flexibility a machine will have once installed.
This changes how machines are evaluated. Instead of maximising installed power, the focus shifts to achieving stable performance within a defined energy envelope. In that sense, energy becomes a design variable alongside footprint, performance and cost.
Moving away from oversizing
For years, machine design often relied on generous power margins to guarantee reliability. Under limited grid capacity, that approach is becoming harder to justify.
The alternative is more precise energy management: controlling consumption, limiting peak demand and matching power use to the actual load profile. Intelligent control, buffering and regeneration are becoming essential to achieve this.
At the same time, transparency is gaining importance. Companies not only want to reduce consumption, but also to measure and demonstrate where savings are achieved. This makes energy data a key element in both engineering and commissioning, for example by using software such as Drives DataHub to monitor and optimise energy flows at machine level.
System design as the real lever
One of the key observations is that the largest efficiency gains rarely come from individual components. Instead, they are achieved at system level, where motors, drives, control systems and mechanics interact.
When these elements are designed and tuned as an integrated system, meaningful energy savings can be achieved without compromising throughput or precision. The main lever is therefore system architecture rather than individual component optimisation.
Practical examples include designing conveyor or handling systems where braking energy from one axis is reused in another via a common DC bus, reducing the need for additional power from the grid. Integrated drive systems such as the IE5/IE6 motor drive system support this approach by aligning motor, drive and control behaviour to minimise losses across the system.
Such an approach also changes collaboration models. OEMs, system integrators and end users increasingly work together earlier in the project to align design choices with real operating conditions.
From constraint to competitive advantage
For machine builders, this is not only a constraint but also a way to differentiate. Machines that can operate effectively within limited grid capacity offer a clear advantage to end users.
They reduce dependence on grid expansion and make projects easier to realise within existing site constraints.
In practice, this may involve implementing decentralised drive concepts that distribute energy demand across the machine and reduce peak loads at cabinet level, for example using decentralised drive solutions such as the i650 motec to distribute load and reduce peak energy demand.
This is why energy considerations are moving into the earliest stages of machine design.
From industry challenge to practical action
The growing importance of grid congestion is also reflected in the programme of MachineBuilding.South, taking place on 8 July 2026 at Sandown Park in Esher. The one-day event brings together machine builders, system integrators and automation suppliers to address current engineering challenges.
During the event, Lenze will present how grid congestion is influencing machine design in practice and which technical strategies can help companies adapt. The focus will be on translating this broader shift into concrete engineering decisions.
For OEMs in the UK, the key question is how to keep machines viable and competitive when available power cannot be expanded indefinitely.
The answer lies in integrating energy considerations early enough to influence machine architecture, power demand and system behaviour in a meaningful way.
Further discussion on this topic will take place at MachineBuilding.South, where Lenze will share practical examples of how machine design can respond to grid constraints. Lenze can be found at Stand 99.
