Decentral Control of Energy Flexibility in Production

An increasingly fluctuating energy production and therefore fluctuating energy prices are new challenges for sustainable and cost-effective manufacturing. Due to a growing volatility in the energy supply, industrial consumers are increasingly involved in the balance of the energy system. The goal is to consume energy only when it is cheap and reduce the power consumption during periods of high energy prices. This leads to a conflict between the flexible use of energy and the production output which has to be balanced. While Smart Grids solutions for regional and higher structured energy networks balance supply and demand, solutions for the industrial environment are still missing. In this article, the current research on the development of a decentralized control solution for industrial energy system is presented.