As electricity grids around the world transition to clean energy, the electrification of other sectors such as buildings, transportation, and industry continue to add electricity demand. Intuitively, more demand would make cleaning up the grid harder—more infrastructure, more power plants, and greater complexity. But innovative technology and well-designed policy can enable electrification of these other sectors, particularly industry, to aid in the electricity system’s transition to clean resources.
This paper “Flexible, Clean Industry and Sustainable Energy Power Strong Economies” by Energy Innovation explores an emerging approach to transform cheap, clean renewable generation by co-locating with symbiotic new industries that can use electricity flexibly and how it could apply in Pueblo, Colorado. The combined resource creates a more dispatchable and reliable electric grid asset while at the same time providing an opportunity for host communities to capture more of the economic benefits of the energy transition. This approach is referred to as an “energy park.”
The purpose of this paper is to flesh out how combining flexible industrial technologies, referred to as “flexible loads,” with solar and wind generation and short-duration batteries all located in proximity can create a resource that is more than the sum of its parts and that helps solve key reliability challenges for any grid.
Access the paper here
