Area-wide energy saving program in a large industrial area

•Area-wide energy saving program was developed in a heavy chemical complex.•The program was composed of a number of collaborative energy saving projects.•A collaborative energy saving project was conducted by two or more sites together.•Area-wide approach was applied to this complex to develop the program.•29% reduction of the theoretical energy saving potential could be expected.

Map Ta Phut industrial area which is one of the biggest heavy chemical complexes in Thailand is located 190-km southeast from Bangkok and was founded in 1990s. This area is considered not to have potential for any further energy saving because their designs have been optimized for energy efficiency. However they need to improve further energy efficiency to increase their international competitiveness and prevent global warming. To achieve the further energy saving, the concept of “area-wide approach” was applied to this area to develop an area-wide energy saving program which was composed of a number of collaborative energy saving projects across sites. Area-wide approach used the methodology of area-wide pinch technology which had been applied to Japanese heavy chemical industrial areas and derived some area-wide energy saving projects practically. The area-wide energy saving program was the mid and long term plan for Map Ta Phut industrial area showing how to implement many collaborative energy saving projects in turn. A large amount of energy saving will be achieved by this program.