Success Story No. 8: The FLEX4FACT Project
Boosting Process Industry's Sustainability and Competitiveness with Flexible Processes
Context
European energy-intensive industries face two major challenges: high energy prices and the need to remain competitive while transitioning to decarbonised production, with the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. To address these challenges, industries aim to increase their use of renewable energy. This has created a growing need for flexibility to manage fluctuations in renewable energy generation. Integrating flexible industrial processes with on-site energy and storage technologies can enhance sustainability and renewable integration but requires new tools and solutions for the energy market and innovative business models.
FLEX4FACT, a Processes4Planet Project
The EU-funded FLEX4FACT project addresses these challenges with an ambitious and extensive initiative, involving a consortium of 23 partners under the coordination of the A.SPIRE member SINTEF. FLEX4FACT’s action plan is divided into eight work packages, aiming to create an end-to-end ecosystem using a modular and multi-level architecture to enable flexible manufacturing and support the energy transition of energy-intensive industries. The project, which kicked off in June 2022, is developing smart tools to support the integration of renewable energy sources. These solutions will be implemented in five European pilot companies.
Goals, Approach and Potential Impact
The overarching objective of the project is to enhance the flexibility of industrial sites and processes through digitalisation, automation, and smart control systems.
The solutions developed by FLEX4FACT are designed to be highly replicable across various companies and industrial sectors, increasing industrial flexibility, facilitating further integration of renewable energy, improving sustainability, and optimising costs. The concept will be demonstrated in five companies with diverse processes and energy plants, including the steel sector at Celsa (Barna Steel).
The project team has already developed a beta version of the Industrial Cluster Flexibility Platform (ICFP), and the demonstrators are expected to be up and running within the next 1.5 years.
At the heart of FLEX4FACT is the flexibility platform, which will enhance energy flexibility and optimise the sustainability of companies on a large scale.
Ms. Ragnhild Eleftheriadis, the FLEX4FACT coordinator from SINTEF, states that the digitalisation of industrial processes will shorten lead times and reduce fossil fuel use in production. Additionally, self-produced or reused energy could cut production energy usage by up to 35%, leading to cost savings and reductions in CO2 and GHG emissions.
The Success Story
The Coordinator's Angle
Asked about what makes FLEX4FACT a success story, Ms Eleftheriadis points towards the multi-disciplinary research work bridging energy, manufacturing, industrial disciplines and digitalisation. In addition to the cross-disciplinary approach, it's also the team itself that makes FLEX4FACT a success story: a very dedicated, solution-oriented collaborative group that is passionate about making a difference.
FLEX4FACT is expected to end in November 2025 and become one of the catalysts for the digital and energy transformation of European industries, making them greener and more competitive.
A.SPIRE salutes the correspondence between the FLEX4FACT's objectives and the Processes4Planet 2050 Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda which identifies digitalisation as a key enabler on the path to climate neutrality, competitiveness and circularity. The association considers the project an ambitious success story proposing cutting-edge solutions to the energy crisis, fostering a sustainable European process industry.
The project team created a video explaining the FLEX4FACT vision.
Visit the FLEX4FACT website to learn more about the project, its expected impact and the consortium that implements it.
Check out this document for more information about the August Success Story.
Learn more about the related project and the A.SPIRE Success Story, TRINEFLEX here.
For more information about A.SPIRE, the Processes4Planet Partnership, and the Success Stories campaign contact the team.
