Energy Management Practices
1. Steel Sector
1.1 Energy / Environment / Quality policy
There was no energy management policy for any of the plants. However,
some of the plants had the quality policy as well as the environment
policy in place. The policies are publicly displayed indicating
that there is a concern about these issues.
1.2 Energy Management Cell, its organisation and role
Energy management organisation had responsibilities both for energy
generation (power plant) as well as monitoring etc. The functions
were limited to monitoring and small projects while there are no
such formal organisation and activities were implemented through
a group of people drawn from different departments.
1.3 Small group activities
Small group activities were undertaken and were found to be successful.
They usually involved the shop floor people and the junior management.
Regarding reporting of EM data was done in all the plants but the
frequency differed. There was a marked correlation between the success
of plants on the EM front and the frequency of meetings as well
as the formalised structure of the EM cell.
1.4 Role of energy audit
Though energy audits were carried out in plants; they were not
very regular in those plants that did not have a good performance
on the energy front or at least a decreasing trend in energy consumption
per unit of output. The same trend was also evident vis-à-vis the
regular training activities and the budget allocation for the same.
1.5 Energy conservation budget
A tendency to keep to the top management the decisions regarding
the energy management activities was evident, however, this may
also be related to the scale of production.
1.6 interaction with other industries and associations
The plants view interaction with the peer industry as a very important
source of information and valued the information provided through
the associations through seminars and other activities.
1.7 Barriers for energy conservation
The plants found the cost of technology, the cost of servicing
the finances as well as the cost of expertise to be the major barriers
that were preventing the promotion of energy management activities.
2. Proposed energy policies in Steel industry
2.1 Top management commitment
It is very important for the shop floor worker to see the commitment
of the top management to EM. Demonstration of the top management’s
participation and encouragement are very important. The CEO should
make this visible through the EM policy statement and regular review
of energy conservation projects. This will ensure employee participation,
which is probably the most important tool for energy management.
The commitment of the top manangement to EM can be in terms of
a self set target which would spell the activities on the shop floor
to achieve this target.
2.2 Reinforcement of organisation
In order to bring about energy savings it is extremely important
that an EMC be created within the individual companies. Some Indian
steel companies already have such a cell while many other have some
other group carrying out similar activities. But the current inefficiencies
in the industry indicate that there is lot of potential that is
still not realised. Both these types of systems need to perform
better so that further energy saving could be achieved, and in order
to do so there is need for reinforcement of such a cell. This can
be achieved by way of having a proper structure for the EMC and
enhancing the effectiveness of its interaction with the manufacturing
divisions of the company. The cell should be able to interact with
manufacturing divisions and other divisions that can be the power
& utilities or any other like the blast furnace or the steel
melting shops.
2.3 Energy conservation policy
The company should enunciate a clear-cut policy that will be a
guide to company personnel involved directly or indirectly in efforts
to reduce energy consumption in the plant. Such a policy would have
a long-term perspective with the activities for the medium term
and short term being derived from it. Thus the Indian steel making
companies should endeavour to have longer term campaigns with targets
set for many years; broken up into achievable smaller parts.
2.4 Road map for energy efficiency
To work out the inefficiencies related to the poor quality of
raw material, especially coal. Taking these into consideration as
well as the current level of performance a roadmap should be chalked
out which will define how the company intends to reduce its energy
consumption over the years. Additionally environmental concerns
can also be built into the roadmap.
2.5 Means of energy conservation
The core of the energy management lies in having the infrastructure,
the motivation and the means for actual energy saving activities.
The first step is to grasp the actual energy statistics and then
to act upon those. The activities could range from motivating the
workers to save energy through education campaigns, small group
and project team activities, and development of projects and technologies,
their budgeting and evaluations of the same.
2.6 Aspect of energy monitoring and targeting system
Recording -measuring and recording energy consumption Analysis
-correlating energy consumption to a measured output, such as floor
area, outside air temperature or production quantity. Comparing
-comparing energy consumption to an appropriate standard or benchmark
Setting targets -setting targets to reduce or control energy consumption
Monitoring -comparing energy consumption to the set target on a
regular basis Reporting -reporting the results including any variances
from the targets which have
been set Controlling -implementing management measures to correct
any variances which
may have occurred.
2.7 Budget for investment
In order to implement energy saving technologies rational budgeting
support is a must. This should be made possible under the guiding
policies of the company on investment and should be evaluated thoroughly
on its energy conservation and economic aspects. A detailed evaluation
system of the energy conservation / management plans should be worked
out in order to comprehensively analyse the benefits and costs to
the company. The benefits should be calculated in terms of energy
savings, savings in energy costs and long-term use and viability
of the project. Evaluation should also take into account the ‘invisibles’
such as safety, improved environment, improved quality and reduced
maintenance.
2.8 Energy saving promotion activities
Energy resources find such varied use in plants that it is important
that energy management and conservation activities be taken up at
all levels starting from the lowest. Thus small group activities,
project team activities and technology development all form important
parts of the energy saving promotion.
2.9 Project team
Technological improvements can be brought about through in-house
resources of the plants in India as the plant are usually equipped
with sufficient trained manpower to design develop and implement
energy conservation projects. A culture of energy consciousness
is very important to build the edifice of better energy efficiency.
Small daily activities should like putting off lights when leaving
workplace and other such small things would not only save energy
but also reinforce the culture of energy conservation.
2.10 Development of energy saving technology
Another important part of the development of energy savings is
the in-house development of energy saving technology or adoption
of such a technology to suit Indian conditions. In general, companies
which conduct in-house research and development spend a very small
part of turnover on such activities. Such activities need to be
taken up at a larger scale. In-house design and development has
the benefit of being tailor made for the plants’ specific conditions
while being available at a lower cost.
2.11 Audits
Energy audits are effective in crosschecking the energy statistics
and also bring to the companies external knowledge on energy conservation
technologies. Audits can also be a way to determine the possibilities
of process optimisation.
3. Conclusions
As the current state of technology in the Indian steel industry
is low and in most cases, the potential for energy conservation
is large. The technology driven solutions could be expected to give
good results. But on the other hand a closer analysis revealed that
a lot of savings are also possible by implementing small projects
especially those of waste heat utilisation and process optimisation.
Education and motivation of employees and their involvement in the
project group activities would be greatly benefiting the energy
conservation and management activities. These are to be implemented
mainly through the small group activities.
Prioritising the actions that have to be taken to initiate an
effective energy management campaign, the activities would be
- Organising the EMC headed by a competent person
- Exploring opportunities and planning for investment
- Enhancing operational improvements.
However, the priorities may change from plant to plant depending
on the current level of activity
that has already been undertaken in that plant.
Reference:Energy Management Policy – Guidelines for Energy Intensive
Industry in India, Chapter 8, pp 162-188 by Bureau of Energy Efficiency
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