Reducing raw materials consumption and increasing efficiency of energy use are very closely linked with protecting the environment. We talked about the current situation at USSK with GM Energy Ladislav Horváth.
Our Company pays systematic attention to energy efficiency, so we manage to save hundreds of thousands of euros every year. How exactly?
The importance of energy for the steelworks is witnessed by the fact that we regularly monitor and evaluate the use of as many as 25 different types of energy. Some of them are purchased from external sources, others are produced in-house through the processing of raw materials, but many originate as by-products of primary steelmaking processes in our divisional plants. The Energy Balancing and Strategy section closely monitors the consumption and production of every type of energy, comparing planned and actual amounts, and subsequently checking the details of energy efficiency in each steelmaking unit by applying the indicator of specific consumption of the given energy type per unit of production for the given plant. One of our section’s important areas of activity involves verification of energy management projects at the steelworks, whether during their preparation or as components of our MDCC costs reduction, CAPEX control or strategic management projects. Each project is subjected to critical analysis to ensure that its calculation methodology takes into account the potential for saving energy and material, not only at the given divisional plant where it’s carried out but also to determine the overall impact of a proposed project on the works as a whole and all potentially affected plants, types of energy and equipment.
Thinking about all of last year’s projects, can you mention one or two which produced the greatest reductions in raw materials consumption or the greatest financial savings?
A lot of projects were implemented back in previous years with the aim of improving energy efficiency, so metaphorically speaking most of the “low-hanging fruit” were already picked. The potential for improvement still exists though, it’s just that the approach to finding solutions has to be all the more sophisticated. The biggest savings we achieved in 2020 came from the project named “Deviation cost for electricity used in USSK”. We also managed to save several million euros by increasing equipment efficiency and reducing unit coal consumption in the heating plant. We made further savings by replacing classical lightbulbs with LED lighting, and by eliminating leaks in the energy media piping. The electricity, natural gas and steam saved in this way featured of course in the financial savings amounting to hundreds of thousands of euros.
