電力システムの低炭素移行を支えるための産業需要家の生産プロセス再構成

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🔬研究者:産業需要側柔軟性の評価枠組みと時間軸別制御戦略を整理したレビューとして、需給調整・炭素会計研究の出発点になる。

🏢実務担当者:鉄鋼・アルミ・セメント等の製造業が、生産プロセス再構成により系統柔軟性を提供しつつ炭素足跡を削減する際の評価軸として活用できる。

🏛政策担当者:電力・炭素市場の制度設計と、産業需要家の柔軟性参加を促すインセンティブ設計に示唆を与える。

SignificanceDriven by carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, power systems are integrating an increasing share of renewable energy, which is characterized by uncertainty, variability, and intermittency. Maintaining the supply-demand balance in power systems is thus difficult. Therefore, power systems urgently require flexible resources that can provide effective balancing support. Supply-side flexibility still relies heavily on thermal power units, which are increasingly constrained by carbon-reduction requirements and technical limits. It is therefore necessary to further unlock the flexibility potential of demand-side resources. Industrial users are characterized by substantial electricity consumption, large carbon-reduction potential, considerable adjustable capacity, and mature automation and control systems. At the technical level, they can improve their process routes, while at the operational level, they can reschedule production batches and adjust equipment power. These measures create flexibility that supports power-system balancing and low-carbon operation, making industrial users a major focus for developing demand-side flexibility for carbon reduction. Industrial users are evolving from conventional loads into integrated resources that can function as generation, load, and energy storage. This transition gives industrial users three main resource attributes. Distributed energy, self-owned power plants, and waste-heat generation provide on-site power. Adjustable production loads can coordinate production with system dispatch. Electrical, thermal, hydrogen, and intermediate-product storage enable energy transfer across time. This paper reviews the process reconfiguration of industrial users in supporting the low-carbon transition of power systems.ProgressFirst, the transition of industrial users from consumers to prosumers was summarized, outlining their basic characteristics and primary resource classifications. Second, representative industrial scenarios were examined, including iron and steel, electrolytic aluminum, and cement. For each process, the characteristics and flexibility mechanisms were analyzed. For the steel industry, special attention was given to the flexibility differences among three process routes: the blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace long-process route, the scrap-based short-process route, and the hydrogen-based direct reduced iron (H‒DRI) short-process route. The multilevel regulation capability of electrolytic aluminum, which mainly originates from the thermal inertia of aluminum reduction cells, was examined. The flexibility of the cement industry was considered in terms of start-stop scheduling and smooth power adjustment. The industries were found to differ in their dominant flexibility mechanisms. Long-process steelmaking mainly relies on self-generation fueled by byproduct gases. Scrap-based electric-arc-furnace (EAF) production can shift loads through batch scheduling. In H‒DRI processes, electrolyzers, hydrogen storage, and intermediate-product storage can be coordinated to provide flexibility. Electrolytic aluminum provides a fast frequency response and multilevel load adjustment under thermal constraints. Cement plants mainly adjust crushing, raw-material preparation, and grinding, with clinker kilns generally operating continuously. A three-dimensional modeling framework was proposed for industrial users, covering physical characteristics, economic incentives, and carbon benefits to assess flexibility potential based on the process reconfiguration of industrial users. The physical dimension focused on the coupling constraints among material and energy flows. The economic dimension considered the willingness of users to provide flexibility. The carbon benefits dimension captured how carbon-reduction benefits affect feasible regulation boundaries. The assessment enabled theoretical potential to be distinguished from actual available potential. Physical modeling could be applied to identify the feasible regulation region under equipment, production, material-balance, and energy-coupling constraints. Economic modeling accounted for energy costs, production adjustment losses, operational risks, and management costs. Carbon benefit modeling was needed to further incorporate marginal carbon emissions, green electricity consumption, carbon market compliance, and product carbon footprint accounting. For flexibility control strategies enabled by the reconfiguration of industrial processes, coordination should be designed across short-, medium-, and long-term time scales. At short timescales, electrolytic aluminum is a representative resource for a rapid frequency response. At medium timescales, batch processes, such as EAF steelmaking, can enable intraday load shifting. At long timescales, electrolysis combined with hydrogen storage can support cross-seasonal balancing. These decisions must also account for multiple uncertainties, including renewable energy output, market prices, product demand, equipment states, and material supply. The interactions among multiple market mechanisms, including electricity and carbon markets, should also be considered.Conclusions and ProspectsBy participating in power system flexibility regulation, industrial users can promote renewable energy integration, reduce the carbon footprint of industrial products, and support the coordinated low-carbon transitions in the industrial and power sectors. Future research should develop a unified model that captures material flows, energy flows, and industrial production constraints. Furthermore, it is essential to promote the deep integration of artificial intelligence with industrial production and power system control. Additionally, credible accounting frameworks for industrial carbon emissions and product carbon footprints must be established, alongside the improvement of multimarket benefit allocation mechanisms. Ultimately, these developments will enable the large-scale, normalized, and market-driven participation of industrial users in power-system flexibility regulation.

• openalex https://doaj.org/article/f697fe7a60974ab49f036a17b15d976ffirst seen 2026-09-30 04:55:37