SPACE AI Feasibility Study

Purpose and goal

The transition from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources, however necessary, will increase electricity consumption, representing a significant challenge on grid capacity. In this pre-study, Volvo Group comes together with AI Sweden, Skövde Energi, and Skövde University to develop of the Skövde Plant Approaching Carbon Elimination (SPACE) AI, to optimize electricity consumption in one of the company´s critical and highest energy-intensive process: the foundry´s melting furnaces for engine production.

Expected effects and result

Electrifying the melting process could nearly double energy use at the Skövde Plant. In the meantime, this project targets a secondary facility already equipped with electrified furnaces. The delivery will be a minimum viable product of the SPACE AI platform to optimize the area´s consumption, evaluated by measuring its ability to reduce consumption and adapt to grid availability. Its modular and scalable design will enable expansion for industrial energy management globally.

Planned approach and implementation

The project will be developed through four work packages: WP1 will secure internal energy consumption data collection and process traceability. WP2 will investigate the deployment of a grid availability forecasting model. WP3 will integrate WPs 1 and 2´s outputs into a simulation-based optimization model to suggest meting planning. WP4 will integrate all WPs into the cloud-based SPACE AI platform, providing live predictions and visualizations and following a scalable, modular design.