The aim of Interflex is to highlight the potential and benefits of an energy network, e.g. shared use of process heat from adjacent enterprises in existing industrial estates. The demand side management potential in enterprises, both individually and jointly, is also being analysed. Due to the ever increasing proportion of renewables in the electricity supply, greater flexibility in the use of renewables by consumption installations is a key part of German climate policy. Demand side management in enterprises is an opportunity to better manage overcapacity and under-supply from fluctuating renewable power generation with flexible system operation. The project’s target group is regional industrial estates with SMEs with annual energy consumption of more than 1 GWh and an annual energy bill of at least €100,000. The analysis is looking at the energy consumption structure of a total of ten regional industrial estates across Germany with 3-5 adjacent enterprises per estate, and optimising and systematically modelling these estates in terms of energy efficiency improvements and demand side management.

The Interflex project is funded by BMUB as part of the national climate protection initiative.