The roles of permitting times and grid expansion capacity in industrial decarbonization – A case study of the electrification of Swedish industry

The industrial sector accounts for almost one-third of global CO2 emissions, making it an important target for emissions mitigation measures, with electrification representing an important mitigation pathway with reliance on timely permitting procedures and ramping up of electricity grid expansion.I...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sebastian Karlsson, Johanna Beiron, Fredrik Normann, Filip Johnsson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-04-01
Series:Energy Conversion and Management: X
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174525000947
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850133488964993024
author Sebastian Karlsson
Johanna Beiron
Fredrik Normann
Filip Johnsson
author_facet Sebastian Karlsson
Johanna Beiron
Fredrik Normann
Filip Johnsson
author_sort Sebastian Karlsson
collection DOAJ
description The industrial sector accounts for almost one-third of global CO2 emissions, making it an important target for emissions mitigation measures, with electrification representing an important mitigation pathway with reliance on timely permitting procedures and ramping up of electricity grid expansion.In this work, we investigate the impacts of permitting times and grid construction capacity on the evolution of industrial electrification, using the Swedish basic industry as a case study. We develop and apply an optimization model, with the objective of minimizing the time required to electrify the steel, cement, refinery and chemical industrial processes. The model is applied to different scenarios, within the ranges of 1–9 years of permitting time and 100–700 MW/year of grid expansion capacity, while varying the level of project coordination between the industrial sites and grid infrastructure deployments. In the modeling, we assume that the required CO2-free power generation is installed alongside the grid expansion. In a scenario with 8-year permitting times and the ability to expand the grid to accommodate 4.5 % (150 MW) of the modeled industrial load per year, the transition to a fully electrified industry takes until Year 2058. For 2-year permitting times and the ability to expand the grid to connect 18 % (600 MW) of the modeled industrial load per year, the modeled sites could be electrified by Year 2037. In addition, the results show that for low levels of coordination, modeled such that industrial actors wait for infrastructure projects to be completed before they initiate their own pre-studies, there is an increase of almost 8 years in the average time taken for sites to be electrified compared to a modeled base scenario.
format Article
id doaj-art-71c2c58762e04fc2aa2693f5de74006e
institution OA Journals
issn 2590-1745
language English
publishDate 2025-04-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Energy Conversion and Management: X
spelling doaj-art-71c2c58762e04fc2aa2693f5de74006e2025-08-20T02:31:57ZengElsevierEnergy Conversion and Management: X2590-17452025-04-012610096210.1016/j.ecmx.2025.100962The roles of permitting times and grid expansion capacity in industrial decarbonization – A case study of the electrification of Swedish industrySebastian Karlsson0Johanna Beiron1Fredrik Normann2Filip Johnsson3Corresponding author.; Division of Energy Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SwedenDivision of Energy Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SwedenDivision of Energy Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SwedenDivision of Energy Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SwedenThe industrial sector accounts for almost one-third of global CO2 emissions, making it an important target for emissions mitigation measures, with electrification representing an important mitigation pathway with reliance on timely permitting procedures and ramping up of electricity grid expansion.In this work, we investigate the impacts of permitting times and grid construction capacity on the evolution of industrial electrification, using the Swedish basic industry as a case study. We develop and apply an optimization model, with the objective of minimizing the time required to electrify the steel, cement, refinery and chemical industrial processes. The model is applied to different scenarios, within the ranges of 1–9 years of permitting time and 100–700 MW/year of grid expansion capacity, while varying the level of project coordination between the industrial sites and grid infrastructure deployments. In the modeling, we assume that the required CO2-free power generation is installed alongside the grid expansion. In a scenario with 8-year permitting times and the ability to expand the grid to accommodate 4.5 % (150 MW) of the modeled industrial load per year, the transition to a fully electrified industry takes until Year 2058. For 2-year permitting times and the ability to expand the grid to connect 18 % (600 MW) of the modeled industrial load per year, the modeled sites could be electrified by Year 2037. In addition, the results show that for low levels of coordination, modeled such that industrial actors wait for infrastructure projects to be completed before they initiate their own pre-studies, there is an increase of almost 8 years in the average time taken for sites to be electrified compared to a modeled base scenario.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174525000947ElectrificationGrid infrastructureEnvironmental permittingOptimizationModelingIndustry
spellingShingle Sebastian Karlsson
Johanna Beiron
Fredrik Normann
Filip Johnsson
The roles of permitting times and grid expansion capacity in industrial decarbonization – A case study of the electrification of Swedish industry
Energy Conversion and Management: X
Electrification
Grid infrastructure
Environmental permitting
Optimization
Modeling
Industry
title The roles of permitting times and grid expansion capacity in industrial decarbonization – A case study of the electrification of Swedish industry
title_full The roles of permitting times and grid expansion capacity in industrial decarbonization – A case study of the electrification of Swedish industry
title_fullStr The roles of permitting times and grid expansion capacity in industrial decarbonization – A case study of the electrification of Swedish industry
title_full_unstemmed The roles of permitting times and grid expansion capacity in industrial decarbonization – A case study of the electrification of Swedish industry
title_short The roles of permitting times and grid expansion capacity in industrial decarbonization – A case study of the electrification of Swedish industry
title_sort roles of permitting times and grid expansion capacity in industrial decarbonization a case study of the electrification of swedish industry
topic Electrification
Grid infrastructure
Environmental permitting
Optimization
Modeling
Industry
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174525000947
work_keys_str_mv AT sebastiankarlsson therolesofpermittingtimesandgridexpansioncapacityinindustrialdecarbonizationacasestudyoftheelectrificationofswedishindustry
AT johannabeiron therolesofpermittingtimesandgridexpansioncapacityinindustrialdecarbonizationacasestudyoftheelectrificationofswedishindustry
AT fredriknormann therolesofpermittingtimesandgridexpansioncapacityinindustrialdecarbonizationacasestudyoftheelectrificationofswedishindustry
AT filipjohnsson therolesofpermittingtimesandgridexpansioncapacityinindustrialdecarbonizationacasestudyoftheelectrificationofswedishindustry
AT sebastiankarlsson rolesofpermittingtimesandgridexpansioncapacityinindustrialdecarbonizationacasestudyoftheelectrificationofswedishindustry
AT johannabeiron rolesofpermittingtimesandgridexpansioncapacityinindustrialdecarbonizationacasestudyoftheelectrificationofswedishindustry
AT fredriknormann rolesofpermittingtimesandgridexpansioncapacityinindustrialdecarbonizationacasestudyoftheelectrificationofswedishindustry
AT filipjohnsson rolesofpermittingtimesandgridexpansioncapacityinindustrialdecarbonizationacasestudyoftheelectrificationofswedishindustry