The supply of production processes and buildings with thermal energy represents a significant share of the total energy demand of an industrial site. The use of industrial waste heat offers a way to reduce the external purchase of final energy. Due to the lack of transparency and the complexity of such measures, their potential often remains untapped. In the research project ETA im Bestand a user-oriented software solution was prototypically implemented. The software solution enables the development and evaluation of industrial energy concepts. Approaches from the research area of operations research and dynamic simulation are applied.