CORES – Integration of combined renewable energy systems for industry

Even in Austria, with a high share of hydropower, only a part of the electrical energy demand is currently provided by renewable energy sources. And it is not conceivable in the near future to also cover the heat sector with renewable electricity and thus to electrify it. Therefore, exergetically reasonable alternatives should be applied to cover the industrial process heat demand in the low and medium temperature range (<400 °C): Waste heat recovery, solar process heat and heat pumps each combined with storage, as well as photovoltaics and PVT collectors.

To date, the advantages of a combined integration of different renewable technologies are only realized in the building sector. In industry, although there is a technical and economic potential to cover the industrial process heat demand by renewable energies, the following problems still need to be addressed:

• Criteria and methods for identifying and evaluating the most technically and economically viable combination of possible technologies,
• design, operation, and control strategies for the optimized integration of renewable technology combinations, and
• System simulations to illustrate and address the above-mentioned issues.

With reference to the problems, the following results are available from the project CORES after a duration of 4 years:

• A methodology that enables a detailed analysis of a renewable energy supply system for the specific framework conditions of an industrial plant. The methodology was validated in 3 industrial studies.
• Global key performance indicators for the overall system as well as a performed optimization according to technical, economic and exergetic criteria.
• A system model for the illustration of possible technology combinations and their simulation, whereby essential knowledge in the design of an energy supply concept was gained.
• Possibilities for the control of renewable energy supply systems for optimized operation management.
• A potential tool including a manual for a quick analyzation of renewable energy concepts (link to download see below).

The CORES project was carried out together with a consortium from Germany and Switzerland. The focus of the Austrian research work was on the internal optimized integration of renewable technology combinations. The focus of the German consortium was on the integration in industrial parks or the grid-connected energy supply, the Swiss research group dealt with economic evaluation criteria as well as financing models.