135 Schneider Electric is already helping industrial businesses to modernise their existing equipment. For example, the world’s biggest steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal has upgraded switchgear and transformers with Schneider Electric software and sensors at its Belval production facility in Luxembourg. This ensures it can monitor both energy use and critical electrical equipment 24/7, which has cut carbon dioxide emissions by 170 metric tons and reduced capital costs by 20 per cent. We must also focus on reducing industrial energy waste. Within industrial plants, approximately two-thirds of energy is lost or wasted before its intended use, according to a study published by Reuters. Digitalising industrial processes and leveraging digital twin technologies throughout supply chains, alongside software and analytics, can prevent such inefficiencies. Digital twins capture the operational data of industrial plants to create virtual, real-time models of their processes, showing how factories could potentially perform with different operational scenarios built within the software. Users can see how these changes might impact production, profitability and carbon emissions, empowering them to identify how to optimise resources and energy, and avoid waste. Experts from the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council predict that digital twins will unlock $1.3 trillion of economic value globally by 2030. Such technologies are already being successfully deployed worldwide. Sanning Chemical, for example, used digital twins alongside enhanced automation and electrification technologies when building a new smart factory in Hubei Province, China. This improved workforce efficiency, decreased energy consumption by five per cent, and made operations safer and more stable. Public attention around decarbonising the global economy and reaching net-zero by 2050 is prompting critical conversations around reducing demand. Given the sheer size of the industrial sector, and its relative inefficiencies, it has a responsibility to be a leader in demandside change. The industrial sector has a significant opportunity; it has the power to unleash a massive untapped energy efficiency potential and deliver significant savings too. To do so, it must prioritise electrifying industrial processes, upgrading industrial buildings and infrastructure, reducing energy waste, and partnering with digital automation and energy management experts. The tools are readily available. Now, industries around the world must start using them. Olivier Blum is executive vice president of energy management at Schneider Electric INDUSTRIALS & MANUFACTURING Photo: Schneider Electric Schneider Electric helps ArcelorMittal to modernise its electrical installation in line with its sustainability commitments
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