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Longmeadow ABB Headquarters Microgrid

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations5
System facts26
Sources reviewed7
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

ABB commissioned a grid-connected industrial microgrid at its 96,000 m² Longmeadow headquarters and manufacturing campus near Johannesburg in June 2016. The verified configuration is approximately 750–760 kWp of rooftop solar, an ABB PowerStore 1 MVA/380 kWh lithium-ion system, ABB Microgrid Plus control, and diesel backup. Official South African reporting in 2023 said solar supplied about 30% of the campus's roughly 2,400 MWh annual consumption; legacy claims of a wind turbine and flywheel do not match ABB's project documentation.

Research status
Commissioned and publicly described as operating through at least 2023. ABB and successor Hitachi Energy continued to use Longmeadow as an operational microgrid reference after commissioning. Exact 2025–2026 battery state of health, diesel runtime, and recent reliability metrics are not public, so continued operation of every original component cannot be independently verified.
Historical classification
Commercial
Reported capacity
1,250 kW
Coordinates
-26.27076, 28.11227
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Longmeadow ABB Headquarters Microgrid?

5 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

ABB

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

ABB Power Grids

Original supplier organization for PowerStore, Microgrid Plus, and grid-integration technology [3][4]

Organization

ABB South Africa

Campus owner, project developer, system supplier, and original operator [3][4][5]

Organization

Hitachi Energy

Successor to ABB Power Grids and later corporate reporter using Longmeadow as a microgrid reference [6]

Organization

South African Department of Trade, Industry and Competition

Government source for the 2023 campus energy-use and solar-share update [5]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
750 [1]
KW Wind
2 [1]
Storage
380 kWh Flywheel Storage [1]
Rooftop solar
ABB's commissioning material reports 750 kW over approximately 5,000 m²; a 2023 South African government update reports 760 kWp [3][4][5]
Battery storage
1 MVA / 380 kWh lithium-ion ABB PowerStore [3][4]
Battery support duration
Approximately 20 minutes at full campus load, according to ABB's project sheet [3]
Campus peak load
Approximately 1 MW [3]
Diesel backup
Later ABB/industry documentation describes two remaining 600 kVA generators; initial launch material refers to four backup generators/feed sources. This likely reflects phased retirement or differing counting and should be preserved as an evolution [3][4]
Annual campus electricity
Approximately 2,400 MWh/year in the 2023 government update [5]
Solar energy share
Approximately 30% of annual campus electricity in 2023 [5]
Peak solar penetration
Up to 100% of instantaneous campus demand under favorable conditions [3]
Avoided emissions
ABB projected more than 1,000 tonnes of carbon-dioxide reduction per year [3][4]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Battery energy storage

ABB — PowerStore

1 MVA/380 kWh lithium-ion grid-forming storage system for frequency, voltage, transition, and renewable-integration services; cell maker is not disclosed [3][4]

02

Microgrid control

ABB — Microgrid Plus

Distributed control system coordinating PV, storage, utility-grid connection, diesel backup, and load priorities [3][4]

03

Photovoltaics

Model not publicly disclosed

Approximately 750–760 kWp of rooftop modules across about 5,000 m²; commissioning publicity described roughly 2,800 panels, but module and inverter models are not disclosed in the cited technical sheet [3][5]

04

Diesel generation

Model not publicly disclosed

Two 600 kVA sets are identified in later configuration reporting; manufacturers and models are not disclosed [3]

05

Remote monitoring

ABB

Cloud-connected remote service and visualization used to monitor plant performance and support diagnostics [3][6]

06

Legacy correction

Model not publicly disclosed

No wind turbine or flywheel is part of ABB's verified Longmeadow configuration. The 380 kWh storage asset is lithium-ion PowerStore, not a flywheel [3][4]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • General

    Stunning photo of 2800 solar panels being installed as part of ABB Longmeadow's MicroGrid project tx @drone_africa pic.twitter.com/TapslFluef [1]

  • Operating modes

    The system can operate grid-connected or islanded, with PowerStore establishing voltage and frequency and supporting transitions when the utility supply fails. [3][4]

  • Dispatch

    Microgrid Plus prioritizes available PV, uses battery power for rapid balancing and transition support, and starts diesel generation when longer-duration firm supply is required. [3]

  • Grid services

    PowerStore provides grid-forming capability, frequency and voltage regulation, renewable smoothing, and power-quality support in addition to short-duration backup. [3][6]

  • Facility scale

    The 96,000 m² site includes ABB South Africa's headquarters, manufacturing, and logistics operations and employed approximately 1,000 people at commissioning. [4]

  • Measured energy mix

    The 2023 update's approximately 30% solar share is the strongest recent official energy-mix evidence. Grid electricity supplies much of the balance in normal operation, with diesel reserved for outages and resilience. [5]

  • Performance evidence limit

    Public sources provide nameplate, architectural, and annual solar-share information but no recent battery degradation, diesel-fuel consumption, outage count, or islanding-success dataset. [5][6]

  • Corporate lineage

    Hitachi Energy's later references reflect the transfer of ABB's Power Grids business; they do not mean the Longmeadow campus changed from ABB ownership to Hitachi Energy ownership. [6][5]

Provenance

7 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  2. [2]
    pic.twitter.com/TapslFluef

    t.co · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  3. [3]
  4. [4]
  5. [5]
    ABB invests over R10m to complete additional technology transfer

    South African Government News Agency · Primary source

  6. [6]
  7. [7]
    Longmeadow Headquarters (archived legacy record)

    Microgrid Projects / Internet Archive · Archived source

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