A European Review of the Potential Role of Industrial Clusters in the Energy System When Leveraging Energy Synergies

Concerns about the competitiveness of European industry led to the publication of the Draghi report. One of his recommendations is to install regional green industrial clusters around energy-intensive companies. The report identifies three benefit categories, each corresponding to typical industrial symbiosis cases: improved investment cases by shared local low-carbon energy generation, improved investment cases by shared infrastructure, and improved energy flows for increased resource efficiency. Industrial clusters hold untapped potential to advance the energy transition and climate neutrality. However, it is still unknown how and if this potential will ever be reached, nor how scalable and replicable the benefits will be. This review paper aims to take a first step in exploring the potential role of industrial clusters in the energy system by exposing the research state of the art in academic literature. A literature review is performed in line with the three benefit categories according to Draghi to understand the enablers and barriers of potential synergies and their impact on the energy system. Afterwards, the scalability is assessed by positioning the European industrial clusters in the larger renewable energy landscape. To illustrate the global interest, a brief reflection is made on references to industrial clusters in the policy of non-European regions. The work concludes with interesting leads for future research to further advance knowledge on the importance of industrial clusters in the energy system, and to stimulate the implementation of energy synergies.