Empowering Medium-Sized Industrial Companies to Optimize Their Local Electricity Grids Based on Data

The middle-sized enterprises play a crucial role in the energy transition due to their multifaceted nature as consumers, distributors, and producers in the energy supply. The project "EMIDOS" focuses on addressing this central task by combining energy-efficient operations with renewable energy sources. We are developing digital solutions at Fraunhofer ISE to help medium-sized industrial companies optimize their energy infrastructure. These solutions are designed to support the energy transition and enhance the competitiveness of these enterprises.

Initial Situation

Middle-sized industrial manufacturing enterprises are particularly affected by the challenges of the energy transition as they act as consumers, distributors, and increasingly also as producers of electricity. For the resolution of these new technical and energy-related challenges, many companies lack the necessary energy data, personnel, and expertise.

Objective

To counteract this, we are developing solutions for optimizing the energy infrastructure in middle-sized industrial enterprises within the project "EMIDOS". The development and validation of the work range from digital twin simulations to real-world application in the industrial partners' laboratories. The overall goal is to improve efficiency, enhance competitiveness, reduce maintenance costs, and simplify the integration of renewable energy sources.

Approach

The optimization efforts focus on four critical areas: network data validation, infrastructure optimization, voltage quality, and blind power management. Initially, a need-based measurement infrastructure is designed and installed to ensure a high-quality data foundation. Developed algorithms of artificial intelligence validate and correct the captured energy and network data. Based on these data, the configuration and expansion of the industrial network are optimized. With high-resolution measurements, suggestions for improving voltage quality (oscillations, subharmonics, subsynchronous oscillations) are worked out, which improves the availability and lifespan of machines. Finally, a concept for a central blind power controller is developed, which can control various blind power sources (capacitor banks, inductances, photovoltaic systems) and compensate for the blind power of other machines.

Results

The methods developed in the project have already been applied and validated in two industrial operations. The accurate modeling of the plant network allowed, with the incorporation of existing measurements, a precise analysis of voltage quality. The developed algorithm by Fraunhofer ISE for optimizing the network infrastructure uncovered weaknesses in the network design and suggested automated measures to reduce power losses, prevent over-violations, and contribute to a more sustainable use of resources and equipment.

The “EMIDOS” project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE).