The Role of a Digital Industry 4.0 in a Renewable Energy System

Abstract

The transition to an intermittent energy production from renewable energy sources (RES) increases the complexity of providing reliable energy supply in Germany. Yet the growing number of RES impede the necessary effort to control the system. The introduction of digital or smart energy systems is often proclaimed as a logical next step towards coping with this rising complexity. It seems convenient that the manufacturing industry, as one of the major energy consumers, is currently also in a process of a digital transition, the fourth industrial revolution. This paper explores the current state of expert discourse on the role of a digitized industry as a potential enabler for the energy transition using Germany as a case study. For this purpose, we gathered qualitative data through semistructured interviews among industry managers and energy researchers. We identified the three major areas in the expert discourse of industry's future potentials: (1) increasing transparency in the energy system, (2) providing demand flexibility, and (3) increasing energy efficiency. In this paper, we address the internal barriers and explore industry's reluctance to interact with the energy system in order to initiate a transition.