Abstract: Power management systems and methods are disclosed for a plant electrical network using plurality of controllers configured for power management such that a first controller from the plurality of controllers is configured to perform power management in a first local process area within the plant electrical network and can communicate with a second controller that is configured for power management in a second local process area within the plant electrical network, over a plant wide communication network. The power management function in the first local process area can be performed based on the information communicated between the first controller and the second controller and/or based on a power balance computation carried out for the plant wide electrical network or for the first local process area. The power management function can include slow load shedding.