Prof. Sauer, what exactly is the 'SynErgie' project, which was launched in September 2016?

Prof. Dr. Alexander Sauer: The 'SynErgie' project is a consortium of over 100 partners from industry, science and society that is tackling engineering, economic and social issues. In particular, we are investigating how the demand for electricity in industry can be made more flexible. We are looking at different industrial sectors and production infrastructures as well as the opportunities of the market and electricity system and analyzing the challenges of networking production machinery with the electricity market.

Why is this project necessary?

Alexander Sauer: The proportion of fluctuating renewable energies in the electricity system will increase continuously. We already have over 100 gigawatts of installed renewable capacity in the electricity grid today - with a maximum load of around 80 gigawatts. The installed capacities will continue to increase in the future. This inevitably raises the question: who can adapt their energy requirements to generation in the most cost-effective way? Industry will certainly play a not insignificant role in making demand more flexible.

What are the specific challenges of the project?
Alexander Sauer: In technical terms, the challenges lie firstly in expanding the mindset in established industries. Traditionally, the energy supply for industrial processes follows demand and is not subject to short-term price fluctuations. In a renewable energy world, however, things look different. In addition to traditional ways of shifting energy demand, for example by postponing or swapping orders and their sequence or by using buffers, we are working on being able to dynamically switch energy sources during production in many processes, for example. If electricity is scarce and expensive, the system automatically switches to gas operation - without the need for human intervention.

Are there already initial results?

Alexander Sauer: Oh yes. For example, there are initial interim results on the analysis of the current market and electricity system, a meta-study on the flexibility potential of German industry and also a detailed potential analysis of the basic materials industry. In contrast to previous studies, this has shown that there is a technical potential of over 1 gigawatt of technically flexibilizable capacity in the short term in the sectors examined.

What role does Industry 4.0 play in this?
Alexander Sauer: I4.0 plays a key role in realizing the technical potential. The focus of production managers is on producing goods at the right time and in the right quality. The flexibilization of energy demand plays a subordinate role here and sometimes even has a negative impact on quality and time. I4.0 technologies can ensure production quality on the one hand and achieve minimum energy costs through flexibilization on the other. Artificial intelligence approaches also play a role in both aspects - but we are still in the early stages of development here.

What does the future roadmap look like?

Alexander Sauer: By the end of the first funding phase in August 2019, we will have evaluated the technical potential of the sectors under consideration and implemented the first demonstrators for energy-flexible operation. Using the example of some of the participating industrial partners, we will be able to simulate the technical possibilities for making energy demand more flexible by creating a complete energy map of production. In the area of networking production with the energy market, we will have developed an initial status of the energy synchronization platform, which we will be able to test and expand further.