Exploiting data analytics for improved energy management decision-making

The adoption of Internet of Things and Cloud technologies in the context of Industry 4.0 provides manufacturing industries with the opportunity to collect data from multiple sources. Analytical tools and techniques can be then applied to support decision-making processes with valuable information. Industry 4.0 technologies have been implemented in many sectors and industries: among them, energy management - often representing one of the main costs for manufacturing companies - is considered in this study. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of how the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies and, in particular, the analysis of energy consumption data, can change or enable decision-making thereby improving energy management. Based on a literature review and current practices, possible applications of data analytics in the energy management field are proposed and several energy management decision areas are discussed. The paper includes a case study aiming at illustrating how the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies, supported by proper strategical and operational approaches can improve energy management integrating energy consumption data with other sources of data.