Karviná Mine: Search for New Ways of Energy Saving

KARVINÁ – The worldwide economic crisis that restricts the sales opportunities of our coal leads us to identifying reserves for cost reducing. The cost of the purchased energy media is a significant cost item of each pit. The generally true fact that the energy that has not been consumed is the cheapest hence motivates the management and the staff of the Karviná Mine to search for ways how to reduce and limit energy consumption in all operations.

To support this effort, a company-wide meeting of technicians was organised as well, at which all proposals and ideas arisen from the discussion were carefully recorded to allow, at a later stage, their specification and assessment from the point of view of viability and amount of possible savings.

Of the proposed technical solutions, the project to shorten airshafts seems to be very interesting. It would lead to a reduced depression and hence to a reduced load of the engines of the main fans operated on a non-stop basis in both plants of the Karviná Mine. Other proposed energy saving measures were related to the possibility to reduce the idle movement of underground transport lines, the substitution of air driven pumps with electric pumps with automatic operation, the reduction of the use of the cage hoisting engines and the reduction of the use of the central air-conditioning during stoppage time at the ČSA plant.

The area of compressed air use offers interesting energy saving opportunities. At present, it is irreplaceable for the operation and safety in the mine, but its production is approximately seven times more expensive than that of electric energy required to perform the same amount of work by electricity-driven equipment. Hence, a reduction of air pressure was tested and introduced in periods with minimum operation in the underground area of the mine. As a result, the loss of volume related to the considerable size of the compressed-air networks in the mine decreases. The condition is that safety in the mine is not jeopardised.

In order to reduce the cost of heating, reduced heating of selected buildings was tested and implemented. Heating was stopped in buildings that, in connection with relocating certain operations outside the Lazy plant, are not needed or whose further use does not require heating.

The gains from the implementation and use of measures aimed at the reduction of the use of energetic media have been included in the list of technical measures and reflected in the forecasts of use and the costs of the energies to be purchased in 2009.

(Zbyslav Herman, Head of the Department of Economics and Environment)