Then why bother selling the electricity back to the grid? If the wholesale price is less than retail price, it would make more sense to use the power to offset the original consumption.
It seems like the only reason a setup like this would really make sense is as an efficiency improvement for the industrial customer. Maybe financing for these types of upgrades is hard to come by, in which case it kinda makes sense to have a 3rd party own and operate the equipment. But that seems like a short term niche. As soon as it is proven and de-risked financing should be quick to follow.
I think that point extends further. This entire idea goes away when efficiency in the tooling is enhanced over time. Sure you can get some extra power back from your waste, but next time you retool, the tech might make that proposition useless.
It's like if you invested in a system to get energy back from you car exhaust, but then the next model year is so much more efficient as to make the tech obsolete.
