Industrial Energy Communities
The key to establishing an industrial energy community lies in selecting suitable partner companies. The InduGrid platform is used to check the generation and consumption profiles of interested companies for both electricity and heat in order to identify potential candidates for an energy community.
Participating in an industrial energy community facilitates sustainable energy management, increases energy efficiency and reduces both costs and carbon emissions.
Energy exchange is one way of increasing energy efficiency, especially when using renewable energy. However, it is advisable to first check your own options in terms of flexible consumption, storage and sector coupling (conversion between energy carriers).
There is a legal framework for exchanging (renewable) energy between companies, but selecting the participants is a key consideration.
Renewable energy communities (REC) can generate, store, consume and sell energy generated from renewable sources. These communities are located within an individual network operator’s concession area, and may have private individuals, companies, municipalities, and local authorities as members. The organisation of a REC may take many forms, from an association to a corporation, with the requirement being that the REC must focus on regional benefits and advantages for its members. The priority of the energy community is not on financial profit, and this must be specified in its statutes or organisational form.
Citizen energy communities (CEC) are subject to similar rules as RECs: CECs are limited to generating, storing, consuming and selling electricity, but this electricity does not have to come from renewable sources. The community may have private individuals and companies as members and must operate on a not-for-profit basis. Electricity suppliers, medium-sized companies and large enterprises may be participants in a CEC but may not have controlling power.
Our service
Our InduGrid platform is relevant for your company if you have significant demand for power and/or heating, occasionally have surplus green electricity and/or waste heat, or intend to source power from an energy community.
Step 1: Enter the relevant data on the InduGrid platform
In a first step, all your company’s relevant energy data needs to be entered into the InduGrid platform. This includes information on energy generation and consumption, both for electricity and heating.
Step 2: Identifying potential energy communities
The next phase is to identify suitable companies to form an industrial energy community. This is achieved by comparing your company’s generation and consumption profiles with other participants registered on the platform.
Step 3: Analysing the potential savings
Once potential energy communities have been identified, the savings potential is analysed in detail. This is done by optimizing energy flows within the community in order to minimize overall energy consumption and maximize cost savings.
Step 4: Implementing optimized measures for energy communities
In a final step, the optimized measures for the energy community are implemented. This includes implementing joint energy efficiency strategies, exchanging surplus power, and coordinating energy generation and consumption within the community. These measures result in long-term energy savings and environmental benefits.
InduGrid can also estimate the demand for renewable energy sources within an energy community, which is relevant information for dimensioning projects such as a planned PV installation.