Industrial clustering and avoiding anti-trust issues How can competitive facilities within a single cluster ensure they steer clear of anti-competitive behaviour?
Patrick Smith RBB Economics Duncan Micklem Yokogawa
Why bother with clustering? Industrial clusters constitute concentrations of related industries or several industrial sites that are grouped within proximity to one another. They represent major collective net zero and circular economy opportunities and are key for delivering further triple bottom line performance gains. For example, the World Economic Forum’s ‘Decarbonization of Industrial Clusters’ initiative seeks to connect 100 industrial clusters globally to reduce 1.6 billion metric tonnes of CO 2 emissions, retain and create 18 million jobs, and contribute $2.5 trillion to global GDP.
Status quo Two industrial cluster typologies are appearing across industry: ‘Formed’ and ‘Forming’. Opportunities for greater economies of scope and scale from clustering exist across both: Formed . These principally comprise large onshore integrated chemical parks, which at some point in time were owned by a single owner. Therefore, individual facilities already benefit from some level of pre-existing integration and shared services, such as raw materials, utilities networks, transportation infrastructure, safety & security, and in some
Improve e ciency of processes within individual plants and across the cluster
Electrify low-to-medium temperature and pressure processes
Systemic e ciency
Electri cation
Use waste productively, such as heat and biogas Provide cost-e ective system bene ts such as exibility, demand optimisation, load balancing and curtailment reduction Leverage electricity from nearby zero carbon sources for green hydrogen Produce low-to-zero carbon hydrogen (blue, green) Use hydrogen for hard-to-electrify industrial processes, building heating and transport
Generate low-cost renewable electricity on - site (e.g. rooftop solar)
Co-located group of industries
Increased digitisation and stakeholder collaboration
Ensure grid connections can handle increased capacity need
Chemicals
Cement
Ports
Carbon capture during energy and hydrogen production
Manufacturing
Steel
Use captured carbon for industrial and manufacturing processes
Hydrogen
Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS)
Store carbon underground where feasible
Figure 1 Net zero solutions for industrial clusters
Source: World Economic Forum (Accenture, 2023)
www.decarbonisationtechnology.com
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