Run leaner with OPTIMAX®
Rising energy demand, higher costs, and decarbonization pressures demand leaner, cleaner ways of operating. ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® helps you outrun cost and carbon while reducing energy spend, lowering emissions, and creating new revenue opportunities. Embedded into your operations, OPTIMAX® delivers consistent performance while driving smarter, leaner, and cleaner optimization every day.
key benefits
<p>With decades of domain expertise, a strong network of industry experts and a global ecosystem of innovation partners, ABB is perfectly placed to provide cutting-edge leaner and more sustainable industrial software solutions.</p>
Proven energy cost reductions
<p>Intelligent monitoring, reporting and real-time optimization helps you to cut waste and improve efficiency achieving up to 10% energy cost reduction.</p>Smart-predictive control
<p>Advanced AI-enabled forecasting and closed-loop control to predict load demand, energy pricing and generation with greater accuracy resulting in seamless process optimization.</p>Flexible and future-ready
<p>SaaS, cloud, edge, on-premises and hybrid deployment options provide complete flexibility with ABB-managed installation, updates and monitoring for longevity and reduced in-house upkeep.</p>FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
<p>Still unsure about how ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® can fit into your organization and provide valuable optimization? Read through our frequently asked questions.</p>
ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® is a scalable energy management and optimization platform that helps industrial sites, microgrids, and smart cities increase profits, reduce costs, improve operational KPIs and meet regulatory goals. The industrial software solution combines monitoring, reporting, and predictive control to orchestrate all your energy sources and loads in real time, supporting intelligent, data‑driven operations. Users have achieved up to 10% energy cost reductions without disrupting performance, showing significant value in business environmental impact and budget.
OPTIMAX® integrates seamlessly into your existing infrastructure and operates as part of our ecosystem of digital transformation tools. With AI‑powered forecasting that predicts load demand, energy generation, and pricing, OPTIMAX® enables smarter planning, improved energy market participation, and enhanced grid compliance. Its cloud, edge, on-premises, and hybrid deployment options, now supported through a SaaS model, allow organizations to modernize at their own pace while reducing IT burden.
OPTIMAX® strengthens process optimization by combining real‑time energy management with ABB Ability™ Advanced Process Control (APC). Together, they deliver coordinated control of energy and production processes, enabling continuous optimization without compromising safety or reliability. OPTIMAX® uses predictive algorithms to adjust operations based on market conditions, renewable generation fluctuations, and plant demands, improving overall productivity and enabling energy‑aware automation.
OPTIMAX® offers the broadest deployment flexibility in its class: SaaS, cloud, edge, on-premises or hybrid. With the SaaS model, ABB handles installation, updates, monitoring, and security patches, ensuring optimal performance with minimal IT overhead. Both OPTIMAX® and APC are built on Kubernetes, providing high availability, strong security, and seamless scaling across all environments. This ensures your optimization platform grows with your business needs.
Yes. OPTIMAX® is purpose-built to help industries reduce emissions, increase renewable integration, and comply with sustainability frameworks like ISO 50001. By leveraging advanced AI forecasting and automated energy flow optimization, OPTIMAX® enables operators to minimize carbon intensity while improving efficiency. In one industrial steam and power plant, OPTIMAX® delivered a 1.5% energy cost reduction and decreased penalty payments by 60% (day-ahead) and 80% (intraday), achieving ROI within a year. In another facility, OPTIMAX® reduced the overall natural gas consumption by four percent, with a reduction in its carbon footprint of about 13,000 t/year.
Use available flexibility in power generation facilities and allocate load on the assets based on prices and efficiency. Forecasting and optimization of assets like chillers and cooling containers to optimize energy consumption.
Yes! OPTIMAX® uses advanced AI-enabled forecasting to predict load demand, energy pricing and generation with greater accuracy resulting in seamless process optimization.
how it works
Oil and gas
- Oil and gas
- Petrochemicals
- Virtual power plants
- Industrial sites
- Water
- Hydrogen
- Steam and power
- Smart charging
- Data centers
ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® for Oil & Gas
Oil & gas operators need to cut emissions, operate reliably, and avoid penalties in increasingly dynamic energy markets. ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® helps by coordinating energy resources across complex upstream and downstream operations, improving forecasting accuracy through AI, and reducing nomination errors. Customers benefit from lower emissions, reduced operational costs, and more reliable production—proven by measurable savings in industrial deployments.
KEY BENEFITS
Smarter Forecasts
<p>AI‑enhanced forecasting that reduces market penalties.</p>Cleaner Energy
<p>Lower emissions and energy waste through optimized energy flows.</p>Boost Throughput Reliably
<p>Increased product throughput through higher operational reliability via coordinated control of multiple assets.</p>ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® for Petrochemicals & Refining
Refiners and petrochemical operators compete on efficiency and output stability. ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® enables them to maximize production reliability and reduce energy intensity by orchestrating heat, power, and utility networks. Its predictive insights and day‑ahead planning help operators cut energy costs while maintaining strict safety and quality requirements. The result: more stable operations, lower emissions, and greater profitability.
KEY BENEFITS
Cut Costs & Emissions
<p>Reduce energy costs and emissions while improving the productivity of your plant.</p>Fast Energy Savings
<p>Save 3-5% on steam and 7-10% on electricity cost with ROI of less than one year.</p>Cut Design‑Phase Costs
<p>Save on CAPEX with digital twins in the FEED and engineering phases.</p>ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® for Virtual Power Plants
Power‑generation operators seek to maximize output and efficiency while participating profitably in energy markets. ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® supports this seamlessly aggregating and integrating decentralized generation, flexible loads, and storage systems (distributed energy resources, or DERs) into a virtual power plant. Customers gain higher efficiency, greater grid participation, and more stable plant operations.
KEY BENEFITS
Control costs and meet regulatory requirements
<p>Aggregates and dispatches decentralized generation resources and monitors operations to control operational costs and comply with emissions regulations and other reporting and trading obligations.</p>Maximize trading opportunities
<p>Maximizes revenue from optimal participation through intelligent trading of surplus energy on wholesale energy markets using the forecasting, planning, and real-time optimization.</p>Expand into new markets
<p>Helps you expand into new markets and offer unique business models based on its flexible architecture. Provides new functionalities to existing and potential customers and scales to accommodate additional DERs</p>CAPABILITIES
Real time operation
- Automatic Asset Dispatch and real-time control
- Optimal Ancillary Service and demand response distribution
- Schedule disaggregation
Day-ahead and intra-day-optimization
- Optimally plan your portfolio
- Automatic rescheduling
- Subsequent optimization runs
Forecasting and trading
- Loading and Renewable
- Forecast Flexibility Indication
- Trading Decision Support
Reporting and engineering
- Easy to create reports & send production data to billing system (per asset, per market, per customer, per type)
- One-click installation and removal of assets
- Include your own models
Benefits
- Add Content
- Add Content
- Add Content
OPTIMAX® for Industrial Sites
OPTIMAX® for Industrial Sites is a scalable energy management and optimization solution (EMOS) for industrial sites, microgrids and smart cities that drives sustainable processes, achieving up to 10% energy cost reductions without impacting operations.
OPTIMAX® for Industrial Sites
OPTIMAX® for Industrial Sites is a scalable energy management and optimization solution (EMOS) for industrial sites, microgrids and smart cities that drives sustainable processes, achieving up to 10% energy cost reductions without impacting operations.
ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® for Water and Wastewater
To achieve net-zero emissions in water management, organizations must adopt digital technologies for smart water management to achieve increased operational efficiency while reducing costs and save time on ISO 50001 reporting. OPTIMAX® directly supports that goal by coordinating pumps, treatment assets, and on-site energy resources with real-time optimization. As a result, utilities can cut energy costs while maintaining high service reliability and meeting regulatory sustainability goals-all with improved transparency and automated control.
KEY BENEFITS
Cut Energy Costs
<p>Up to 10% energy‑cost reduction without compromising service.</p>Full Visibility of Energy Use
<p>Full visibility into treatment and pumping energy consumption.</p>Real‑Time Control
<p>Increased operational resilience through predictive, real‑time management.</p>ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® for Hydrogen
Green-hydrogen operators need to cut electricity costs, often representing 70% of total OPEX, and optimize electrolyzer performance for safe, reliable output. ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® helps them reduce electricity-related costs through forecasting, intra-day planning, and precise control of production aligned with renewable availability. Customers gain higher efficiency with reduced risk of unplanned downtime, safer module operation, and better competitiveness in emerging hydrogen markets.
KEY BENEFITS
Cut Electricity Costs
<p>Up to 10% reduction in electricity‑driven production costs.</p>Boost Electrolyzer Efficiency
<p>Increased electrolyzer efficiency and safer, smarter module control.</p>Boost Trading Profitability
<p>More profitable energy trading through forecast‑driven planning.</p>ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® for Steam & Power
Process automation in energy plants, integrated control systems, and optimizing steam networks, creates competing energy objectives, complex equipment requirements, and the need to adapt quickly to dynamic conditions. With advanced real‑time monitoring, ABB OPTIMAX® for Steam & Power coordinates boilers, turbines, and steam networks to maximize efficiency with minimal manual intervention, delivering higher productivity, optimized fuel consumption, improved safety, and more profitable steam‑power operations.
KEY BENEFITS
Reduce production costs
<p>Automation in the energy sector achieves up to 5% savings in steam generation through advanced steam network optimization and intelligent energy management.</p>Improve steam supply reliability
<p>Minimize the frequency and severity of electrical disturbances, ensuring stable and reliable steam delivery across your industrial site.</p>Fast return on investment
<p>Industrial energy optimization tools recover your investment in less than one year by reducing operational costs and improving overall system efficiency.</p>Lower CO₂ emissions
<p>Renewable energy digital integration reduces your carbon footprint by up to 5% through optimized boiler and turbine orchestration and improved cogeneration efficiency.</p> <p> </p>Smart Process Optimization with Model Predictive Control
<p>Enhance process stability across energy systems using leverage Model Predictive Control (MPC), reducing main steam pressure deviations and improving performance across all headers.</p>Automated Power Import/Export Optimization for Cost Efficiency
<p>Automated power import/export optimization adjusts generation based on price fluctuations, prioritizing in-house production when external electricity costs rise to maximize savings.</p>ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® Cloud for Smart Charging
Operators of EV charging networks need predictable costs, stable operations, and the ability to scale without overloading the grid. ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® Cloud for Smart Charging is a cloud‑based, end‑to‑end charging management system that increases charger utilization and availability, from single sites to nationwide fleets. Intelligent charging optimizes schedules, minimizes peak loads, and balances demand with power availability and cost. With real‑time forecasting and automated energy balancing, operators can integrate renewables, reduce costs, and confidently scale as mobility demands grow.
KEY BENEFITS
Intelligent charging management
<p>Intelligent charging management maximizes charger availability by optimizing usage and prioritizing on-site energy.</p>Scalable
<p>Increased flexibility and full scalability with easy integration of different chargers, locations, and energy providers.</p>Better control
<p>Better control with full management and reporting, automated energy-flow monitoring, and improved cost visibility.</p>ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® for Data centers
Modern data centers make thousands of energy decisions every day, across the grid, markets, on‑site generation, storage, and rapidly changing IT loads. With multiple power sources, volatile energy markets, and increasing sustainability pressure, managing this complexity manually isn’t feasible. ABB AbilityTM OPTIMAX® brings it all together, providing automated, predictive optimization across the entire energy system.