SynErgie II

SynErgie is one of the nationwide projects as part of the Kopernikus Projects for the Energy Transition funding initiative. The project is dedicated to the question of how a flexible alignment of industrial processes to a fluctuating energy supply can balance the electricity system. In the electricity system of tomorrow, the supply of electricity will no longer follow the demand for electricity as it has done in the past. Energy-intensive industry in particular must therefore learn to use electricity when it is available and inexpensive and to do without it when it is scarce and expensive. In this way, the demand for electricity can be adapted to the fluctuating supply of electricity.

An interdisciplinary consortium

The consortium stands out from other initiatives due to its synergetic composition of leading research institutions, user companies from the most important energy-intensive sectors, electricity market representatives, IT providers and representatives of civil society. This holistic composition not only enables transdisciplinary research into new principles, but also supports the industrial implementation and social acceptance of the solutions developed. As part of the project, key industrial processes are being identified that can be used to balance fluctuating energy supplies by adapting their energy requirements. In addition, efficient flexibilization processes and technologies are being developed for key industrial processes and tested using demonstration plants. To this end, approaches from information and communication technology are also used to control the balancing of supply and demand in the electricity grid. The focus here is on networking the individual players (e.g. electricity generators, aggregators, electricity consumers, electricity grid operators or forecasting service providers) using information systems in order to enable automated adjustment of electricity consumption.

The vision is to achieve end-to-end control of energy demand from the PV module or wind turbine through to the production process. Finally, decision support systems for companies are being developed for the best possible marketing of industrial demand flexibility and challenges for a future-oriented market design 2030-2050 are being analyzed and possible design options developed on this basis.

Augsburg as a model region

A special feature of the Kopernikus project SynErgie is the energy-flexible model region of Augsburg. Here, more than 20 local institutions have joined forces to investigate the behavior of energy-flexible consumers and the effects of a flexible orientation of industrial processes on the Augsburg region and to evaluate them, taking into account local conditions, opportunities, risks and consequences. In this way, key factors for the successful use of demand flexibility are derived. Based on the results obtained in the Augsburg model region, the possibility of transferring the results to other regions will also be investigated, which is why Augsburg has a key pioneering role to play in terms of the energy transition.

As part of the Kopernikus project SynErgie (Synchronized and energy-adaptive production technology for the flexible alignment of industrial processes to a fluctuating energy supply), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding about 60 partners from science, industry and civil society. The business informatics project group of the Fraunhofer FIT (PGWI) in Augsburg and Bayreuth as well as the University of Augsburg, the Augsburg University of Applied Sciences and the University of Luxembourg are significantly involved in this project. The second of a total of three planned funding phases with a funding volume of around 30 million euros is currently underway. The first funding phase from 2016 to 2019 has already been successfully completed.

Coordinator and partners

SynErgie is coordinated by Professors Eberhard Abele from the Technical University of Darmstadt and Alexander Sauer from the University of Stuttgart. Two renowned research institutions from Augsburg, the Fraunhofer FIT and the Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV, are significantly involved in the SynErgie consortium. Across Germany, 20 other research institutes from RWTH Aachen University to the universities of Bayreuth, Darmstadt, Karlsruhe, Cologne, Stuttgart and the Technical University of Munich are also involved in the consortium. In addition, 40 industrial companies from the energy-intensive industry are involved in the project.

Further information can be found at: www.kopernikus-projekte.de/projekte/industrieprozesse