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Smart energy management: AI-powered platform optimizes costs and reduces emissions for energy transition

Sustainability

tesa uses AI and digital solutions to act flexibly and more sustainably in the dynamic energy market. This optimizes energy consumption, reduces emissions, and manages costs effectively – an important step towards greater climate protection and competitiveness.

Germany’s energy transition is accelerating. In 2024, 59.4% of the electricity fed into the grid came from renewable sources such as wind, solar, and hydro power. This shift is a crucial milestone on the path to national and European climate targets – and it’s also an environmental necessity especially for the chemical industry, one of the most energy-intensive sectors. To meet ambitious climate goals and comply with increasingly strict regulations, the industry must drastically reduce its carbon footprint. This requires a fun-damental transformation of its energy supply and production processes.

At the same time, the expansion of renewable energy also brings challenges: the num-ber of so-called zero-euro hours - times when electricity prices drop to zero or even neg-ative due to oversupply - has been rising steadily. Conversely, frequent price spikes occur when renewable generation dips, leading to increased price volatility on the spot market. For energy-intensive industries like chemicals, this volatility complicates cost planning and threatens competitiveness.

To navigate these challenges, the chemical industry must leverage digital solutions and AI computing power to optimize energy consumption, reduce emissions, and manage costs dynamically.

How can tesa implement its energy strategy while keeping costs under control within an increasingly dynamic market environment? This question lies at the heart of tesa’s commitment to sustainability and operational excellence.
Energy Intelligence at tesa

From Volatility to Opportunity: How AI Transforms tesa’s Energy Operations

In this context, the launch of our Energy Intelligence project is a key initiative within our Global Operations program designed to digitalize and optimize our energy management. In partnership with ifesca, we are implementing a new AI-powered platform to drive efficiency across our plants. The software generates demand forecasts for electricity and gas and creates cost-optimized schedules for the operation of flexible energy infrastructure e.g. combined heat and power (CHP) plants. These schedules are market-price-driven and enable low-emission and economically efficient plant operation.

The software is already in use at several sites, including Hamburg, Norderstedt, and Offenburg. It automatically controls the CHP plants, considering load profiles, future energy prices and marginal costs. Ulf Harring, Head of Global Operations: “This project is a cornerstone for achieving our tesa Energy Strategy and our ambitious 2030 climate neutrality goals for Scope 1 and 2 emissions. It is our proactive answer to the challenges of the evolving energy landscape, allowing us to turn volatile market prices and supply chain uncertainties into strategic opportunities.”

Unlocking our Energy Potential: Key Features of tesa’s AI-Powered Energy Platform

The new Energy Intelligence platform introduces three core capabilities that will transform how we manage energy:

  • Smart Asset Operation: The platform moves us beyond simple on/off logic for energy assets. It enables intelligent, automated optimization of our flexible assets, like Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units. Using real-time energy data, market prices and forecasts, the system will determine the most cost-effective and low-emission mode to operate our assets at any given moment. This initial phase focuses on our German sites.
  • Advanced Forecasting: Accurate forecasting is crucial. The new platform will provide precise short-term forecasts for daily operational planning and long-term forecasts to support strategic energy purchasing and investment decisions.
  • Global Monitoring: This project will create a single source of truth for site energy data globally. This allows for transparent global monitoring with standardized KPIs, which helps us to manage overall energy costs and track the progress of our initiatives towards our 2030 sustainability goals.

Furthermore, these new capabilities will directly support and help us optimize our Energy Procurement strategies. Holger Rauth, Plant Manager Offenburg & Head of Sustainable Production: "From a plant perspective, this project is a crucial step forward. It not only prepares us for the future of energy management but also enables us to take the next steps in automation and efficiency."

Last updated on Aug 22, 2025