The European Commission, through DG Energy, has awarded the AIDRES project to EnergyVille/VITO NV to provide geographical mapping of future energy and feedstock needs of Energy Intensive Industries (EIIs) in Europe. The resulting data will serve as input for data visualisation (by the JRC) and for the development of energy system modelling applications within the Horizon Europe Programme in the years to come. Within the project, EnergyVille/VITO will work with experts from UGent, EPFL, Wuppertal Institute, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Dechema and Kresko Energy on this project.
In recent years many studies have been published aiming to gain a better understanding of potential pathways towards carbon neutrality of various end-use sectors in general and Energy Intensive Industries in particular. But previous studies have to a large extent focused on carbon-neutrality pathways for individual sectors in isolation, based on generic processes assumptions. At the same time the successful transformation of Energy Intensive Industries will play a pivotal role if the EU Green Deal strategy will prove successful, from an environmental and economic point of view.
This study will provide the next level of necessary data to develop a sharper picture of potential pathways for industries at their respective sites and in their respective industrial clusters in Europe. The team will extend on an approach developed within the H2020 EPOS project with focus on cross-sectorial Industrial Symbiosis. The results of the state-of-the-art process and industry cluster models will be mapped in a geo-references database (GIS) on NUTS 3 level. The model results and developed geo-database will generate a systemic view of European industrial energy and feedstock demand in 2030 and 2050 and outline the related potential for renewable integration in the respective European regions.
The 2-year study commenced in January 2021, with a stakeholder workshop inviting industrial representatives being scheduled in September 2021.
