CASE STUDY
The keywords for sustainable manufacturing are renewables, digitization and automation
Inaventa Solar has built a pioneering production facility for solar collectors that runs on solar energy and clean hydro power. It is already what we can call a sustainable factory, but the production process can be further improved by introducing a higher degree of digitization and automation. To explore the possibilities for achieving an even more sustainable and cost-effective production process, Inaventa Solar accepted an invitation to participate in the Horizon Europe project Flex4Fact, which aims to develop an end-to-end platform for energy optimized production operations.
The solutions will be developed in a modular way to allow for easy replication and upscaling in the EU and help boosting the digitization and energy transformation within the Industry sector.
One of five use-cases
Inaventa Solars production line is used as one of five use-cases in the project. Cutting-edge technologies including edge computing, AI and machine learning will be used to optimize the energy management of our industrial site. The project partners have visited our factory at Jevnaker to discuss demonstration of the platform related to our specific needs. It is a great opportunity and pleasure to have highly qualified researchers from different institutes to help us to optimize our production process. The potential for improvement is significant, and calculations show that the Inaventa Solar solar collector can be produced with an even smaller environmental footprint, and at a lower cost.
Massive contribution from IFE - Institute for Energy Technology and SINTEF
The Inaventa Solar use-case has got massive attention and support from researchers representing IFE and Sintef. They are involved in the entire production process from understanding and mapping the process to the development of a complete digital twin that can allow simultaneous optimization of both the production line and the energy system of the factory and its surroundings.
Hear the researchers talk about their work:
Giuseppe Fragapane - Research Scientist, SINTEF Manufacturing
Øyvind Jensen - Department Head MatPro, IFE
Sayan Adhikari - Research scientist, Computational Materials Processing, IFE
Kristina Haaskjold - Research scientist, Energy Systems Analysis, IFE
Espen Teigen - Research Engineer, Humans & Automation, IFE
Chiara Caccamo - Research Manager at Sintef Energy and FLEX4FACT Technical Coordinator
Odd Myklebust - Vice President Research, SINTEF Manufacturing AS
Ragnhild Eleftheriadis - EU Coordinator Flex4Fact, SINTEF Manufacturing
Flex4Fact - a flexibility platform for sustainable factories to reduce CO2 emissions and to enable the energy transition
Flex4Fact is a Horizon Europe project that aims to develop a flexibility platform for sustainable factories to reduce CO2 emissions and to enable the energy transition. The project, coordinated by SINTEF Manufacturing AS, started in June 2022 and will run until November 2025. FLEX4FACT aims to make industrial sites and processes more flexible through digitization, automation, and smart control systems. This will be of great help when renewable energy sources are to be integrated into the industrial energy systems
A modular digital platform that integrates partial solutions for automating the production processes, which have been considered independently of each other up to now, is to be developed as an end-to-end solution. The platform is intended to support industrial companies in determining the flexibility potential of production sites and in planning and implementing energy-optimized production operations.
The platform's solutions will be demonstrated in five use cases from the industrial sector, spread across northern and southern Europe. The industrial companies involved are characterized by different product types, company sizes and geographical constraints. The modular and standardized approach of the digital platform is to be universally applicable and transferable to all use cases distributed across Europe.
The developed tools and knowledge are expected to accelerate the digital and energy transformation of the industrial sector in Europe and support the uptake of new renewable sources. Industrial partners will be able to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and reduce energy costs. This will increase the competitiveness of the EU industry.
Read more:
EU Publications Office: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101058657
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