Companies in Vårgårda are exploring new ways to collaborate on energy 

As the energy needs of industry grow and access to power becomes an increasingly important issue, companies need to find new ways to meet the challenges of the future. Now, companies in Vårgårda are joining forces with researchers and development stakeholders to explore how an industrial area can work more collaboratively on energy issues—could an industrial energy community be part of the solution?

The reason is that many industrial companies are facing similar challenges as their energy needs increase. Limited grid capacity and uncertainty regarding future power demand risk affecting both growth and the energy transition. 

To explore the possibilities of establishing an industrial energy community in Vårgårda, the EiVI – Energy in Our Industry project has been launched. The project is led by Innovatum ScienceWest Sweden Energy Agency is being carried out in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology, Chalmers Next Labs, the Center of Innovation, and a number of industrial companies in Vårgårda. 

An industrial energy community is fundamentally about how companies can collaborate on energy resources. By producing, storing, and sharing energy in new ways, there may be opportunities to use the energy system more intelligently and create better conditions for future development. “If companies can find new ways to collaborate on energy, there is great potential—both for their own operations and for the industrial sector as a whole,” says Peter Berg, project manager at Innovatum ScienceWest Sweden Energy Agency. 

Using Vårgårda as a case study and test bed 

The project is based in Vårgårda, where several companies already view energy and power issues as crucial to future investments and development. By drawing on the companies’ actual circumstances and concrete data on electricity usage, costs, and other factors, it is possible to effectively define, test, and discuss potential solutions. 

“This could create new opportunities for businesses in Vårgårda, while also bolstering the development of both the municipality and the region. At the same time, the lessons learned could be valuable for others facing similar challenges,” says Linn Marinder, Business Development Manager at the Center of Innovation in Vårgårda. 

Through interviews, workshops, and analyses, the needs and conditions of the companies will be assessed. The work covers issues such as energy sharing, energy storage, joint investments, and business models, as well as the regulatory frameworks and structures required to make these solutions work in practice. The goal is to build knowledge about how energy collaboration can evolve into an industrial energy community. 

Research Meets the Reality of Business 

An important part of the project is to combine research-based knowledge with companies' experiences and needs. 

Researchers at Chalmers will, among other things, analyze various models for energy sharing, joint investments, and local energy production. They will also examine the legal, organizational, and economic conditions that need to be in place for an industrial energy community to function in practice. 

“Interest in energy communities is growing both in Sweden and across Europe, but there are still many questions about how these models can work in industrial settings. Through EiVI, we have the opportunity to develop new knowledge together with companies that have strong use cases,” says David Steen, a researcher studying electrical distribution networks at Chalmers University of Technology.

Experiences that could benefit others 

The goal is not only to create value for businesses in Vårgårda. The project will also generate knowledge, methods, and recommendations that can be used by other industrial areas, municipalities, and organizations working on the energy transition. 

“For us, it’s about developing and proposing methods and solutions that allow us to use the power system more efficiently, increase competitiveness, and enable expansion and new business ventures even when power capacity is limited.” “If companies can find new ways to collaborate on energy and electricity use, there is great potential—both for industry and for society as a whole,” concludes Peter Berg. 

The EiVI project—Energy in Our Industry—is funded by the Swedish Energy Agency and is one of 19 projects that have been granted funding to develop energy communities. It is also the only project that focuses on how energy collaboration within an industrial area can be developed into an industrial energy community.