Taha Manzoor, University of Alberta

Title: Clean Industrial Heat in Cold Climates: The Missing Link in the Energy Transition

Abstract

Industrial processes such as critical minerals mining and metal forming account for nearly two-thirds of global energy consumption, and their reliance on fossil fuels for process heat contributed 24% of global CO₂ emissions in 2019. This substantial contribution to greenhouse gas emissions makes the decarbonization of industrial heating processes critical for achieving global climate targets. At the same time, rapidly growing electricity demand from emerging sectors, particularly large-scale data centers, is expected to place additional pressure on power systems, highlighting the need for a diverse portfolio of energy technologies capable of serving distinct energy-intensive sectors.

As regulatory requirements to reduce emissions tighten worldwide, clean heat generation technologies such as small modular reactors (SMRs) and concentrated solar thermal systems, together with long-duration heat storage technologies such as electric thermal energy storage (E-TES), are gaining attention for their ability to provide low-carbon, high-temperature heat for industrial applications. These technologies can enable flexible energy management, improve system resilience, and facilitate the integration of low-carbon energy sources in high-temperature industrial processes.

However, extreme ambient temperatures in cold-climate regions such as Canada, combined with challenges associated with remote and off-grid operations, present significant barriers to large-scale deployment compared with established solutions such as coal or natural gas boilers. This talk presents recent advances in modular thermal energy systems for industrial heat, highlighting experimental research, thermal-hydraulic studies, and techno-economic assessments aimed at enabling the deployment of clean industrial heat technologies in cold-climate environments. The discussion will identify key technological challenges as well as opportunities for accelerating the decarbonization of the industrial heat sector.