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"Dear readers,
We are thrilled to share the significant progress made in the FLEXIndustries project. Key milestones include the successful integration of an innovative Transcritical Organic Rankine Cycle coupled with a Battery Energy Storage System within STOMANA's demo actions, expanding FLEXIndustries’ impact in the steel industry.
In May 2024, the consortium held a productive General Assembly in Thessaloniki, which included a visit to the MILOIL biodiesel production plant in Serres, Greece. At this site, the Waste Heat to Power (WHP) system has been successfully installed, with the cooling tower now delivered and placed on its base slab adjacent to the ORC unit.
On the technical front, the design of RES, storage, and Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) solutions has been completed, along with the initial version of the platform architecture. The beta platform is now ready for testing, equipped with monitoring, logging, dashboarding, routing, proxying, and security services. Key monitoring tools, including a central logging service and Keycloak for Identity and Authentication Management, have been developed. Sustainability assessments for industrial flexibility demo cases are complete, and the first set of Key Exploitable Results (KERs), an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) management strategy, and business use cases have been outlined. Scientific webinars featuring international experts have fostered global collaboration. Additionally, six platform modules focused on energy processes have been defined, providing a strong foundation for energy management. In recent months, activities with replicators have begun, offering FLEXIndustries the opportunity to expand into the Automotive, Oil & Gas, and plastics industries and extend its reach to the food and beverage sector.
Training sessions for end-users of FLEXIndustries solutions have also commenced through webinars while 3 scientific publications have been published on international peer-reviewed journals and two pilot video interviews were released.
The recent General Assembly in November 2024, held in Syracuse, included a site visit to the SONATRACH Oil & Gas plant. This assembly was instrumental for sharing updates on project activities and progress, and it included 1-to-1 workshops with demonstrator and replicator owners for focused implementation monitoring. Overall, this event was a key moment for reinforcing partnerships within the consortium and advancing the project toward its goals.
While the project has largely met its objectives, some challenges have arisen, particularly in integrating certain modules at specific demo sites due to process limitations. These challenges are being addressed through collaborative efforts with partners and customized solutions. Despite these hurdles, FLEXIndustries remains on track to achieve its goals of enhancing energy management, reducing costs, and lowering emissions in energy-intensive industries.”
Erik Garofalo
RINA – C
FLEXIndustries project coordinator
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