Decarbonisation Technology - February 2024 Issue

Challenge Complexity Technical

Solution

Facilitators

Partition in -Subclusters

Tools

Adapt : Agility / exibilty

Risk

Mitigate : Understand characteristics and constraints

Orchestration

Build trust

Divided ownership

Figure 7 Cluster decarbonisation trajectory development challenges and facilitators

mitigating risk, as it means understanding the infrastructure and system characteristics and constraints, as explained in the Identifying Decarbonisation Contributors section. • Risk adaptation: Flexibility and agility are achieved by:  Using adaptable tools that can swiftly adjust and reconstruct a trajectory when assumptions change.  Sustaining stakeholder interaction will help accelerate and get cluster-wide buy-in when changes occur. Divided ownership and the orchestrator The fact that clusters consist of entities owned by different parties, possibly competitors, should not significantly affect the trajectory. However, specifically for clusters, perceived risks, primarily around data sharing as well as capital and operational costs, will hamper trajectory development and likely impede implementation. Therefore, an independent orchestrator is required, even to start the journey, to bring the stakeholders together to create trust, as shown in Figure 7 . The orchestrator can be a business association, but these initiatives are primarily driven by government institutions with local business support. The orchestrator also drives the trajectory development either by performing the task or appointing a third party when resources are unavailable. Part of the orchestrator’s role involves setting the scene and identifying cross-industrial characteristics, constraints, and projects. The orchestrator’s role goes beyond co-ordinating collaboration between the process

industries; it also provides critical input to utility providers and grid operators.

Conclusion Developing a joint decarbonisation

trajectory for a cluster of industrial sites will reduce both the operating and capital cost compared to individual actions. Establishing a decarbonisation trajectory for an industrial cluster requires a methodical approach using “ Challenges of cluster decarbonisation are similar to those of individual sites. However, the complexity and divided ownership pose additional challenges ” a techno-economic evaluation primarily based on the CAC curve. This entails integrating process and energy modelling, as well as including risk factors and capital costs. Finally, an orchestrator must initiate and co-ordinate the journey after setting the scene with preliminary work. Part 2 of the study will continue to examine the questions related to trust that arise when decarbonisation trajectories for industrial clusters are implemented. Part 3 will discuss the benefits obtained from continuous real-time optimisation after the decarbonisation measures have been put into place.

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Joris Mertens joris.mertens@kbc.global