Abstract
Industrial energy flexibility enables companies to optimize their energy-associated production costs and support the energy transition towards renewable energy sources. The first step towards achieving energy flexible operation in a production facility is to identify and characterize the energy flexibility measures available in the industrial systems that comprise it. These industrial systems are both the manufacturing systems that directly execute the production tasks and the systems performing supporting tasks or tasks necessary for the operation of these manufacturing systems. Energy flexibility measures are conscious and quantifiable actions to carry out a defined change of operative state in an industrial system. This work proposes a methodology to identify and characterize the available energy flexibility measures in industrial systems regardless of the task they perform in the facility. This methodology is the basis of energy flexibility-oriented industrial energy audits, in juxtaposition with the current industrial energy audits that focus on energy efficiency. This audit will provide industrial enterprises with a qualitative and quantitative understanding of the capabilities of their industrial systems, and hence their production facilities, for energy flexible operation. The audit results facilitate a company’s decision making towards the implementation, evaluation and management of these capabilities.
Highlights
Energy systems worldwide are undergoing a radical transition to low-carbon energy sources.This transition is necessary for countries to achieve their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) as per the Paris Agreement of 2015
The methodology is meant to be the basis of an industrial energy audit focusing on the topic of energy flexibility and providing vital information for enterprises to implement and exploit the energy flexibility capabilities of their production facilities
The proposed methodology follows a similar procedure than the current standards in industrial energy auditing aimed to improve industrial energy management and identify energy efficiency measures [28,29]
Summary
Energy systems worldwide are undergoing a radical transition to low-carbon energy sources This transition is necessary for countries to achieve their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) as per the Paris Agreement of 2015. To meet the intended NDCs, considerable electrification of the final energy demand and a tripling of the installed capacity of renewable electricity sources, when compared to its current levels, should occur simultaneously around the globe. Due to their extended availability and continuously reducing costs, variable renewable energy sources (VRE), wind and solar energy, are expected to be the primary sources of 61% of the total electricity generated worldwide [2]
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