Toward sustainable and low-carbon industrial transformation: Insights from industrial green microgrids

Driven by global carbon neutrality goals, Industrial Green Microgrids (IGMs) have emerged as a key pathway to accelerate the low-carbon transformation of the industrial sector. This paper makes four original contributions. First, it traces the conceptual evolution of microgrids over the past two decades and identifies four essential characteristics of IGMs, establishing a representative system architecture based on Source-Network-Load-Storage (SNLS) coordination. Second, drawing on an analysis of 19 recent demonstration projects from the world’s largest industrial market (China), it proposes a novel classification of IGM application scenarios into three types: comprehensive energy utilization, continuous processing, and discrete manufacturing. Third, to bridge the gap between conceptual design and practical deployment, it establishes a generalized design framework for IGM systems covering the planning, operation, and control phases, complemented by a systematic review of key enabling technologies and associated technical challenges across the SNLS segments. Finally, it discusses development pathways, mechanism designs, and future research priorities for IGMs, using China’s extensive deployment as a reference. The insights presented aim to provide both theoretical foundations and practical guidance for researchers and policymakers worldwide seeking to promote systemic innovation and the large-scale deployment of IGMs. • The core concept and four essential characteristics of IGMs are identified. • An SNLS-based IGM architecture endogenizing industrial process kinetics is proposed. • Three representative IGM scenarios and their sector-specific bottlenecks are summarized. • A design framework and key enabling technologies for IGMs are systematically elucidated. • Development pathways and policy mechanisms for achieving industrial decarbonization are proposed.