100% Renewable Energies for Energy Intensive Industries

Project Information

RE4Industry

Grant agreement ID: 952936

DOI 10.3030/952936

Project closed

EC signature date 30 June 2020

Start date 1 September 2020

End date 31 August 2023

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost € 2 999 500,00

EU contribution € 2 999 500,00

Coordinated by

FUNDACION CIRCE CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION DE RECURSOS Y CONSUMOS ENERGETICOS
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RE4Industry (100% Renewable Energies for Energy Intensive Industries)

Reporting period: 2020-09-01 to 2022-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The EU has started a progressive decarbonisation path with the aim to become carbon neutral by 2050. In this context, the Energy Intensive Industries (EII) are expected to play an important role as they represent 24% of the final energy consumption, and the gradual implementation of RE technologies at EIIs must allow the reduction of emissions up to a 100 % in 2050 according to most of public decarbonization industrial roadmaps. This will be achieved by increasing the share of RE in 3.15 % annually in these sectors, from 2030-2050. Consequently, EIIs are expected to play a key role as greater renewable energy consumers. This will be translated into new jobs creation (ca. 8000– direct and indirect).
One of the main impacts of RE4Industry is to achieve emissions savings around 340 and 950 Mt CO2 eq, so as significant reduction of EIIs pollutants (SO2/SOx, NOx, NMVOCs and NH3) related to Energy to 20% by 2030 and 75% by 2050, respectively. RE4Industry is also approaching the EIIs decarbonization from a social perspective, to fully understand the social perception and acceptance towards this challenge, aligning the general EU citizen acceptance and acknowledgement of EIIs as REs promoters.
RE4Industry project has 2 main purposes: first, to support EII in the identification and integration of renewable energy (RE) solutions, together with the definition of Action Plans for decarbonization; and second, to transform the EU industrial landscape into a large market niche for the uptake of RE while defining the appropriate framework conditions for short-and long-term scenarios. More in detail, this two-fold objective is being addressed through eight partial objectives:
1) to set an empowered multi-actor collaborative network to gather and identify industrial sector needs
2) to show RE technologies with higher potential to be integrated in EIIs processes in the short (2030) and long-term (2050)
3) to identify and increase visibility of already success cases of RE-based solutions in EIIs
4) to promote the decarbonization transition by means of direct accompaniment to the companies
5) to achieve a common understanding and vision of the EIIs role as greater RE consumers and promoters
6) to promote a more favourable policy and market framework for REs integration, without affecting EIIs competitiveness
7) to align the European society and the EIIs sector messages by means of a strong and coordinated communication campaign
8) to empower the whole industrial value chain through knowledge transfer and strategic positioning in the EU

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In the 1st period, the following results have been obtained:
1. A tailored multi-actor strategy is achieved. Specific engagement actions have been put in operation at national (DE, ES, GR, NL) and EU-level. An expert panel has been created with 4 National Cluster and Committees, 4 European Expert Groups and one European Committee. As overall result a total of 77 actors are already collaborating with the project.
2. Renewable solutions for facing the industrial decarbonisation have been Assessed and reported. Short-term available technologies have been addressed in terms of renewable heat and power generation. As a result, 7 out of 10 reporting drafts are already prepared. Regarding long-term, efforts in this 1st period have been mainly focused on defining a clear structure to establish a technology roadmap for less mature technologies. The assessment of renewables has been used to prepare materials for discussion with expert panels.
3. Analysis of industrial sectors has been conducted at EU level and at the national level. Regarding the status of the industry, reports have been prepared at the EU level on the following sectors: ceramics, steel, glass, non-ferrous metals, cement & lime and chemicals & fertilizers. At the National level, reports have been prepared on the status of EIIs at DE, ES, GR and NL.
4. Successful cases of RE integration in different EIIs sectors are being identified. The mapping tool has been launched. 3 identified success cases have shown their interest to collaborate with the project and visits to their facilities are being scheduled. Further efforts are dedicated to widening this number up to 10 cases.
5. RE4Industry has already produced a preliminary analysis of energy needs and decarbonization strategies of the 3 industrial partners. This has been done by technical and industrial partners in 3 working teams: CIRCE-SIDENOR (steel), CERTH-MYT (aluminum) and BTG-CORBION (chemical).
6. A dedicated Committee is steering the communication to assure a coherent message in the various activities performed in RE4Industry. There have been 5 press releases, 3 conference participations, in addition to all the expert panels meetings and interviews to engage actors for WP2.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

RE4Industry collaborative network, will keep on growing. The current national Clusters (4), Expert Groups (4) and Committees (4 National, 1 European), will continue being key to provide industrial vision and knowledge to enrich the project development. RE4Industry will provide direct recommendations and guidelines to engage policy makers at EU and national level with the objective of supporting the uptake of RE in the industries under their jurisdiction.
The EIIs Interactive Map will be updated with data from 2021 and subsequent years after their public release in the 2nd period. Success cases of EIIs already deploying REs solutions will be identified and included in this tool. Reports of the current framework in EII sectors will be released on the project webpage together with additional reports on the national framework in DE, ES, GR and NL.
After establishing a clear baseline analysis methodology and identifying the most suitable REs solutions for the cases studies, further assessment will be developed in the 2nd period, and Action Plans will be provided to SIDENOR, CORBION and MYT to enhance their decarbonisation pathway and lessons-learned. In addition, 12 additional companies will be accompanied by RE4Industry to coach their preparation of decarbonisation action plans. Subsequent dedicated reports will be materialized, detailing a technologic roadmap with the most feasible REs technologies for EIIs, so as specific requirements for their integration. The development of these guidelines is being performed with the support of the collaborative network, in order to stamp that industrial-oriented vision.
Most relevant inputs from previous activities will be accompanied by knowledge transfer actions, both in-house transfer in the industrial groups of SIDENOR, MYT and CORBION, so as sectoral transfer seminars organised in 4 additional countries (at, FI, HR and RO). Also, communication and dissemination actions will keep on being key for the correct project development.
All in all, RE4Industry actions are intended to cause a substantial increase of REs to contribute to the RE target of 32 % by 2030 set by the EC. Consequently, it is expected that by the end of the project (i.e. 2nd period), an annual increase of 1.9 % of RE share will be achieved until 2030 in the analysed companies; together with 37 % share of RE at the end of 2030 in the project case studies. In addition to the emissions savings (ca. 340 and 950 Mt CO2 eq, by 2030 and 2050), and pollutants reduction by 20 % in 2030 and 75 % in 2050. Moreover, RE4Industry will propose a new EII-derived goods labelling scheme as a way to promote the integration of these REs in EIIs processes.

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