Sweden’s Largest Initiative with Advanced Digitalisation – Electrified Flexible Industry

Vinnova, Sweden’s Innovation Agency, provide funding for projects that use advanced digital technology to strengthen competitiveness of Swedish industry and society. Chalmers Industriteknik has mobilised almost 50 actors. This will enable industry to control its electricity use, drive innovation, free up capacity in power grids, and contribute to a more flexible energy system through Advanced Digitalisation. Co-creation will deliver practical demonstrations together with industries around Sweden.

“Technology is important—but the real shift is about behaviour and system change. When manufacturing industries, energy managers, and grid owners start making decisions together, based on the same real-time data, the entire way we use power transforms. That’s how we build a more flexible and resilient energy system—in practice, not just in theory.” – berättar Hanna Persson, Project Manager at Chalmers Industriteknik.

Swedish industry is electrifying at record speed to build competitiveness and become fossil free, but the power grids are not being expanded at the same pace. To prevent development from stalling, solutions are needed that allow industry to use power smarter, shift loads, share resources, and relieve pressure on the grid—here and now. 

Learning in Real-World Environments

Electrified Flexible Industry brings together players from the entire value chain—industry, energy companies, grid owners, academia, and innovation environments—and connects production, energy use, and power grids into a single integrated system. All development and learning take place directly in real factories, industrial clusters, and energy facilities, where the project engages with the everyday complexity of industrial operations. 

Across eight industrial demonstrations, different solutions will include features like: 

• advanced measurement and data sharing 

• AI-based forecasting 

• automated flexibility control 

• energy sharing between companies 

• local storage and smart control 

• new business models and new roles between industry and the power grid 

The industrial demonstrations are carried out in collaboration with industrial partners in several parts of Sweden, with a strong focus on Västra Götaland County, Värmland County, Halland County, and Jönköping County. 

Experiences are continuously documented and shared in joint forums together with project partners, stakeholders, and new potential participating companies, as well as through a dedicated learning track. This enables working methods to be rapidly scaled nationally. 

National Digital Twin

A key component is the establishment of a national digital twin, enabling technical, market-based, and regulatory solutions to be simulated and validated before being implemented in real-world environments.  

Flexibility, Resilience, and Innovation for the Energy System

The goal is to create a more flexible, robust, and efficient energy system for industry, enabling faster electrification with less strain on the power grid. In practice, this means transforming industry into an active resource in the energy system—not merely a consumer—thus enabling a genuine system shift. The project aims to: 

• increase industrial competitiveness through advanced digitalisation 

• reduce peak loads and free up grid capacity 

• enable energy sharing and smart control 

• improve energy efficiency in industrial processes 

• develop new business models and ways of working 

• build a national digital twin to test technology and regulations before implementation 

• create scalable solutions that work across all of Sweden 

In Värmland, demonstrations include Gruvön (Grums), Åmotfors, Årjäng, Hagfors, Arvika, and Rottneros, as well as Ellevio’s distribution grid and energy and production facilities linked to wind power and energy storage. In Västra Götaland, demonstrations take place in Vårgårda, Trollhättan, Göteborg, and Sotenäs. Efforts in other regions are carried out in Halmstad and in Småland—Hillerstorp, Värnamo, and Jönköping. 

Electrified Flexible Industry:

Project period: maj 2026–april 2029 

Budget: 320 miljoner kronor varav stöd från Vinnova: 150 miljoner kronor 

Coordinator: Stiftelsen Chalmers Industriteknik  

Project Partners:  AB Hilmer Andersson, Autoliv Sverige AB, Billerud Sweden AB (Gruvöns bruk), Broson Steel AB, Broson Wheels AB, Center of Innovation Vårgårda, Chalmers Tekniska Högskola AB, DNV Sweden AB, Ellevio AB, Energiforsk AB, Eolus AB, Ericsson AB, ESAB AB, Garantell AB, GITO Heavy Charging Solutions AB, Glava Energy Center Ekonomisk Förening, Helicon Technologies AB, Herrljunga Elektriska AB, Höganäs AB, Höganäs Sweden AB, Innovatum Science Park (Innovatum AB & Innovatum Progress AB), Jönköping Energi AB, Karlstads Universitet, Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH), Libra Horizon AB, Lindholmen Science Park & AI Sweden, Magna Electronics Sweden AB, Power Circle AB, Rabbalshede Kraft AB, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB, Rottneros Bruk AB, Scandinavian Horizon AB, Siemens Energy AB, Smögenlax Aquaculture AB, Svenska Kraftnät, Sweco Sverige AB, Telia Sverige AB, Troax AB, Uddeholms AB, Uppsala Universitet, Vattenfall AB, Volvo Construction Equipment AB (Arvikafabriken), Volvo Personvagnar AB, Åsbro Kursgård AB