Electrification of Industrial Heat: Opportunities for Renewables Workshop by IEA

17 December 2024, 9:00—12:00 Paris Time

Background information

The industrial sector accounts for about a quarter of global CO₂ emissions, with China responsible for nearly half of these while India, EU28 and the United States contribute an additional quarter of emissions. Slashing CO₂ emissions in industry is a necessary condition to achieving net zero emissions globally by mid-century. Previous IEA work on industry decarbonisation has focused especially on steel and cement, where substantial technological breakthroughs and sustained policy support are necessary to achieve significant emissions reductions. At the same time, a significant share of fossil fuels is used to provide low-temperature heat and steam across other various industry sectors (e.g. textile, paper, food and beverages). Such energy needs could be supplied from renewable electricity using heat electrification technologies such as heat pumps and electric boilers that are largely commercially available and mature.

The cost of electricity generation from solar PV and wind has plummeted during the last decade and they are today among the cheapest technologies for investing in new electricity generation in most parts of the world. Industrial users lack experience with variable renewables as they have generally relied on dispatchable energy sources. Thermal energy storage (TES) can buffer the variability in the production of heat from renewable electricity and is seen as a key enabling technology to allow larger penetration of renewables in the industrial energy mix. TES can also be built from cheap materials – like water, sand, bricks and steel – having an investment cost (USD/kWh) that is an order of magnitude lower than for stationary electricity storage using chemical batteries.

This workshop will map the current experience and emerging innovation to electrify low- and high-temperature industrial heat across different sectors, with a focus on Europe and China. Its aim is to gather input and provide guidance for an upcoming IEA report on industrial heat electrification.

Attendance is by invitation only. For more information, please contact: Martina.LYONS@iea.org

Download the agenda