RE:Nutri: Decarbonization of the Food industry

We want to contribute to the decarbonization of heating and cooling supply in food production. The conversion of existing plants powered by natural gas plays a key role here: Investment decisions must be made now in order to be able to guarantee a reliable and affordable energy supply in the future. To this end, the potential of local renewable energy sources as well as possibilities for flexibilization through energy storage must be optimally exploited. A variety of options are conceivable for the actual system design. Whether a conversion concept has systemic as well as economic value often depends on site-specific conditions (e.g. frequent bottlenecks in the electricity grid) and other framework conditions, such as the regulatory environment.

We combine our expertise in technology development for energy storage and heat pumps, model-based scenario analyses of the German electricity market, system planning and regulatory assessment. We want to better understand the needs of food-producing companies and, based on this, develop generalized and broadly applicable software solutions for planning a secure energy supply based on renewable energies. Part of this is our modeling tools, which can provide scenarios for the energy system environment of a plant location. In addition, techno-economic plant simulations provide concrete results for the selection of a suitable conversion concept and enable statements to be made on costs and benefits. This is supplemented by technology-specific life cycle analyses as a basis for sustainability assessment.