Enabling sector coupling of energy-intensive industrial processes in energy systems (electricity and district heating)

Challenge
The realization of the demand-side flexibility becomes urgent due to the large percentage of renewable energy production from wind and solar. In Denmark, the production industry accounts for up to 22 percent of the total national energy use and is the second largest source (20.8 percent) of the total national CO2e emissions1. Industrial energy flexibility has been identified as a critical parameter for upholding grid stability and security of supply.

Most energy-intensive industrial processes possess an intrinsic energy flexibility that can be utilized to provide auxiliary services to the electricity grid when supply and demand are unbalanced. Therefore, their electricity consumption can be regulated up and down based on the actual unbalance in the grid. In addition to the provision of auxiliary services, these processes also produce large amounts of waste heat that can be captured and reused in district heating systems. Hence, the successfully integration of energy-intensive industrial processes into our national energy system plays a significant role in the green energy transition.

Although there is huge energy flexibility potential in industrial processes, many potentials are not realized. Furthermore, there is currently a hesitance from industry to adopt flexible production due to lack of knowledge about any inconveniences or unforeseen consequences it may cause to the production flow.

Solution
Therefore, this project aims to develop a Digital Twin platform that will provide decision markers with actionable insights through an integrated dashboard. The developed Digital Twins can capture the inherent energy flexibility in a production system, leading to increased incentive and knowledge about industrial sector coupling possibilities. The integrated dashboard can show the results and overview of sector coupling possibilities. Furthermore, it can provide recommendations to the facility and production managers with the consideration of cost, CO2 emission, and production quality.

Expected result/effect
The project will facilitate energy-intensive industries to realize their energy flexibility potentials through industry 4.0 technologies using IoT, Big Data, AI, cloud computing, and Digital Twins as integrated parts of their production system (a digital twin is a digital counterpart to a real system that can predict the system’s behavior under various circumstances).

The project will aid in quickly and efficiently establishing Digital Twins of production facilities for sector coupling by developing a Digital Twin framework. With the use of the Digital Twin framework developed in this project, the industry can perform what-if scenarios to investigate how activation of process flexibility may propagate through the production, thereby minimizing the risk of bottlenecks, missed deadlines, and low-quality products.

Problem owner

• Birn.
• Uldalls Jernstøberi

Problemløsere (eller blot partnere):

• University of Southern Denmark
• Inuatek