Mix Matters: Technical Evaluation of a Carbon-Aware Power Plant Operation Strategy for an Industrial Area in Bremen

In the context of tightening climate policies, industrial clusters and large metallurgical enterprises must revise their carbon emissions targets and develop transition strategies toward carbon neutrality. This study demonstrates that reducing the carbon footprint associated with electricity production and consumption in the industrial sector can be feasible utilizing the real-time carbon intensity monitoring of on-site power plants, available distributed renewables, and green electricity supplied by the external grid. We evaluated this strategy using a co-simulation approach applied to the electrical grid of an industrial area with steel processing enterprises in Bremen. The results indicate that, given Germany's gradual de-carbonization of electricity production, a strategy focused on adjusting on-site power generation from carbon-intensive sources such as natural gas and metallurgical waste gases can be effective in meeting stringent short-term carbon footprint targets during the energy transition. This work contributes to the open data and modeling efforts in the energy research community, ensuring reproducibility and enabling further independent research.