Smart grid technologies and applications for the industrial sector

Smart grids have become a topic of intensive research, development, and deployment across the world over the last few years. The engagement of consumer sectors—residential, commercial, and industrial—is widely acknowledged as crucial for the projected benefits of smart grids to be realized. Although the industrial sector has traditionally been involved in managing power use with what today would be considered smart grid technologies, these applications have mostly been one-of-a-kind, requiring substantial customization. Our objective in this article is to motivate greater interest in smart grid applications in industry. We provide an overview of smart grids and of electricity use in the industrial sector. Several smart grid technologies are outlined, and automated demand response is discussed in some detail. Case studies from aluminum processing, cement manufacturing, food processing, industrial cooling, and utility plants are reviewed. Future directions in interoperable standards, advances in automated demand response, energy use optimization, and more dynamic markets are discussed.