Variability and resilience in industrial symbiosis for energy exchange

Abstract

While exchange of surplus energy between companies can be economic beneficial and environmentally friendly, such inter-organizational integration of industrial rhythms imposes dependencies and uncertainties for the companies involved. This paper expands on the structural focus of studies of resilience in industrial symbiosis by addressing the social and organizational aspects of adapting to variability. The study is based on case studies in three industry clusters in Norway where companies engage in collaboration concepts and exchange surplus energy streams such as heat, CO-rich off-gas and CO2. The paper shows how formal and informal aspects of the interorganizational collaborations can add resilience to socio-technical-economic systems for energy exchange that face uncertainties to the flow of operations and the viability of the systems.