General Information

RE4INDUSTRY is a EU-funded project (Coordination and Support action) aiming at supporting Energy Intensive Industries in the identification and integration of renewable energy (RE) solutions together with the definition of Action Plans for decarbonisation, and at transforming the EU industrial landscape into a large market niche for the uptake of RE while defining the appropriate framework conditions for short- and long-term scenarios.

The project will last 36 months: it started the 1st September 2020 and will last until the end of AUgust 2023.

Eleven partners are involved in the project under different roles:

Technological and social experts

  • Fundación CIRCE – Centro de Investigación de Recursos y Consumos Energéticos (project coordinator)
  • BTG – Biomass Technology Group
  • CERTH HELLAS – Centre for Research and Technology
  • WIP Renewable Energies
  • White Research

Renewable energy oriented organisations

  • Bioenergy Europe
  • EEIP – Energy Efficiency in Industrial Processes
  • ESEIA – European Sustainable Energy Innovation Alliance

Energy Intensive Industries

  • Sidenor – steel sector
  • Mytilineos – aluminium sector
  • Purac (Corbion) – chemical sector

More information about roles can be found here https://re4industry.eu/meet-the-partners/ 

Project Objectives and Innovation

The main objective of the project is to facilitate for the energy intensive industry (EII) sector in Europe a smooth and more secure transition to the adoption of Renewable Energies (RE) in their production processes and facilities. The project will guide the EIIs and their organisations in their path for a total decarbonization towards 2050 by providing vision and guidance to establish their long-term strategy for a coherent and more secure retrofitting an integration of current and future RE solutions in their facilities and processes.

Eight specific objectives have been established:

1.To set a multi-actor collaborative network, involved and actively compromised to gather and identify the needs of the sector, in order to make possible this transition

2.To show the RE technologies with more potential to be utilised by EIIs or integrated in their industrial processes, and mark the path in the short (2030) and long term (2050)

3.To identify, visualise and share success stories of EIIs already adopting RE with the innovations

4.To promote the early transition of EIIs by means of a direct accompaniment within companies

5.To achieve a common understanding and vision of the role that EIIs have to play towards 2050 a RE consumers and potential RE promoters

6.To promote a more favourable policy and market framework to allow the competitiveness of RE based EIIs goods

7.To ensure a growing interest and alignment of European society by means of a strong and coordinated communication campaign coherent with EII sector messages

8.To empower the sector and key organizations through knowledge transfer, strategic positioning and cross-border actions

RE4Industry lies in the identification and characterisation of EII sectors and individual companies and to transform them into a large market niche for RE promoters, taking advantage of the targets set to achieve a carbon neutral industry production by 2050.

Therefore, RE4Industry will gather the needs, requirements, vision and opportunities of main EIIs and stakeholders. These actors must be activated in their new role as big RE consumers and share their needs to achieve this objective.

To this end, RE4Industry aims to make them understand this new role and position towards RE integration, setting as a cornerstone of the project specific actions of engagement including the contact of EIIs, facilitation of dialogue, organization of industrial fora, communication of the project results.

RE4Industry envisages the creation and engagement of a Collaborative Network of actors, a multi-actor network of stakeholders that acts as a key consultation body offering insights into various aspects of the project.

Based on their expertise, the stakeholders participate in different RE4Industry groups at national or EU level, offering advice on aspects such as the identification of sector needs, policy frameworks, appropriate technologies and barriers and drivers among others, thus facilitating the industrial energy transition to RE.

Based on geography and focus, the Collaborative Network is composed by different subgroups:

  • RE4Industry Clusters: ES/DE/GR/NL are technical groups covering four different countries, on a national bases. The countries engaged in the clusters are Spain, Greece, Germany and Netherlands.
  • RE4Industry Expert Groups  are sector oriented expert groups focusing on different aspects: Energy Intensive Industries, renewables, regulations and society.
  • RE4Industry Committees: ES/DE/GR/NL are policy and advocacy oriented groups based on a national level
  • RE4Industry Committee EU is a policy and advocacy group at the highest EU level

RE4Industry will follow 7 action axes targeted to different actors of the value chain in order to generate confidence, facilitate vision, provide support and ensure market options to EIIs.

1.A strong engagement strategy following a multiactor approach

2.A dialogue with and within EIIs and EII organizations

3.A thoughtfully review of RE technologies and options for a 100% RE production by 2050

4.Insights into industry retrofitting and promotion of RE integration

5.Recommendations for the uptake of RE by EIIs and advocacy

6.Multiplication and replication

More specific information can be found here https://re4industry.eu/project-workflow/

Impact

By the end of the project RE4Industry is expected to:

  • Enable the wider uptake of renewable energy generation in the energy and industrial sectors
  • Increase the share of renewable energy in the final energy consumption by 2030
  • Contribute to substantial and measurable reductions in the project development timings and efforts
  • Address the needs for environmental impact assessments
  • Achieve public engagement
  • Provide a basis for the development of more informed policy, market support and financial frameworks, notably at national, regional and local level
  • Boost a more cost-effective support schemes and lower financing costs for RES facilities with policy recommendations

RE4Industry will have impact on multiple sectors:

  • energy: increase of the share of RE annually in the period from 2030 to 2050, non-RE reduction by 2030 through more RE heating and power use at EII sector.
  • policy: EIIs pointed as RE consumers in the National Energy and Climate plans by 2023 in 12 member states, RE4Industry recommendations tested and adopted in 12 out of 28 EU countries.
  • social: general EU citizen acceptance and acknowledgement of EIIs as RE promoter, creation of approximately 8000 new jobs 16 (direct and indirect) considering installers, technicians, manufacturers, biomass supply chain and considering the competitiveness increasing of EIIs.
  • economy/market: EII quota in RE consumption of more than 25% of RE consumed in Europe, increase of annual turnover of RE4Industry Case Studies, an energy label for EII goods in use by European EII goods production.
  • environment: Savings in terms of CO2 by 2030 and 2050, reduction of EIIs pollutants.
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