Flexible, Sustainable and Digitally-Enabled Solutions for Industrial Process Transformation

While the rapid deployment of renewable energy offers a major decarbonisation opportunity, most energy-intensive industries remain rigid and unable to adapt production to variable energy supply. This structural inflexibility curtails renewable integration, sustains fossil fuel dependency, and undermines competitiveness. ACT2Flex addresses these challenges by delivering a systemic step-change in industrial flexibility and efficiency. The project introduces the Generic Systemic Flexibility Solution (GSFS), a holistic cyber-physical environment that integrates process redesign, advanced retrofits, AI-driven digital twins, multi-objective optimisation, and advanced control to enable genuine load adaptation to volatile RES supply. The GSFS can be instantiated into Case-Specific Systemic Integrated Solutions (CSSISs), demonstrated in two large-scale pilots: a Titanium Dioxide manufacturer (KRONOS) and a Copper manufacturer (HALCOR). ACT2Flex couples physical retrofits and decarbonisation technologies with a Flexibility Intelligence Toolbox to orchestrate operations in real time, while introducing novel instruments for performance tracking such as Digital Flexibility Passports (DFPs) and Flexibility Balanced Scorecards (FBSCs). The project embeds social principles through a Skills, Governance and Human-Centricity Blueprint, ensuring workforce empowerment, job creation, and inclusive governance. A dedicated Replication and Exploitation Funnel will drive uptake, scalability, and replication across European and global industrial ecosystems, reinforced by AI-assisted replication tools and validated business cases.