Decarbonization poses a significant challenge for the adaptation of industrial estates and the small and medium-sized enterprises that make up their ecosystem. They are viewing industrial energy communities as an opportunity to face the ecological transition without risking their competitiveness and even their survival.
This model of grouped renewable energy management is a tool that will facilitate, in some cases as the only possible option, the decarbonized reindustrialization in small and medium-sized enterprises.
At the III European Congress on Energy Communities, recently held in Pamplona, several experts pointed out the causes that are slowing the deployment of these communities in industrial estates. These causes range from the private sector’s distrust of collective initiatives where it does not have absolute control, to the absence of clear business models, uncertainty about return on investment timelines, lack of standardized projects that can serve as references to facilitate implementation, and the absence of a single window to centralize and facilitate the necessary procedures for establishing an industrial energy community.
In this same vein, during the second day of BNEW (Barcelona New Economy Week), organized by the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, the need to overcome administrative, technological, economic, management, and governance obstacles to promote the energy transition in industrial estates has been emphasized.
During the event, which also highlighted the importance of fostering public-private collaboration, Esther Izquierdo, Innovation Director of ARCbcn-Wattega, pointed out other challenges for the success of this energy model in industrial estates: good management based on synergy creation and the importance of a managerial figure who can accompany the estates in the process.
At FIE, we understand that this type of community allows for reducing the environmental impact of industrial estates, positioning them as key players in the energy transition, which gives them added value that will improve their image and perception among customers, employees, and society in general, reinforcing their attractiveness and competitiveness.
To achieve this, it is essential to combine political will and aid to drive investments that, in addition to focusing on renewable generation, implement closed distribution networks with access to the general grid that allow for evacuating and monetizing excess green energy.
Moreover, it is necessary to develop storage systems that, in the long term, will turn the energy generated in these industrial energy communities into an asset for industrial activity, improving the competitiveness of these environments where SMEs are predominant.
In the not-too-distant future, storage systems will become a monetizable demand aggregation tool for the industrial estates and the industries that comprise them.
In this way, industrial energy communities address two of the major challenges facing industrial estates: decarbonization and profitability, both from an economic perspective and in terms of sustainability.
Image: Speakers from the symposium “The Energy Transformation of Industrial Estates” held during BNEW. From left to right, Rosabel Hernández (Diputación de Barcelona), Francesc Domínguez (Ajuntament Sta Perpètua de Mogoda), Esther Izquierdo (ARCbcn-Wattega), and Anna Montaña (Creació Agència de Emprendedoria, Innovació i Coneixement).