Assessment of the energy efficiency potential of mining enterprises

Abstract

The paper studies the problematic issues of assessing the potential and improving the energy efficiency at mining enterprises. The necessity of developing a methodology for determining the unreasonable losses of energy resources and introducing the fast-payback options is substantiated. In order to solve this problem, a systematic approach has been used, which is based on experimental data and accounting the global economic situation. An experimental-mathematical approach is proposed for determining the main components of technologically unreasonable losses of electrical energy resources, such as the modes of transformers and pumps operation, an impact of electrical energy quality on energy consumption. The methodology was approbated at the “Mineral” mining enterprise. The proposed solutions are able to reduce energy consumption by 10% of the total with an average payback period of up to two years.