Power management for efficient energy use in mining
ABB has won an order to deliver an energy-management system to Swedish mining company LKAB that will optimize energy use at its Kiruna and Malmberget underground iron-ore mines, and its newest Svappavaara open pit mine. All three mine operations, located in Northern Sweden, extract and process iron ore on site; processed ore is then used in a variety of steel products. ABB's award-winning cpmPlus Energy Manager will improve the energy efficiency of the mines, reduce their carbon footprint, and lower their overall energy costs. Mining is an extremely energy-intensive industry; in many cases, 15% of a mine's total production costs relate to energy. "We selected ABB as the supplier of the energy-management system, as they have the knowledge and software needed to help us to identify and quantify energy consumption within our company. LKAB consumes huge amounts of energy and we need to get a clearer picture of what is spent, and where, in order to be able to identify where to focus on savings," said Lars Erkki, GGM of Energy Products at LKAB. Energy Manager helps customers in all industries monitor, manage, and optimize their energy usage for maximum efficiency and cost savings. It provides reliable data on energy consumption and costs, to pinpoint potential process-improvement targets as well identify the process area with the highest levels of energy efficiency. This data is then used as the basis of future energy-saving measures. Energy-efficient operations also benefit the environment by reducing carbon emissions. "ABB was the first system supplier to begin the development of energy-management optimization ... for the process industry back in the 1990's. In Finland, ABB's energy-management system helps manage approximately one-quarter of all power consumption in the entire country. The system promotes energy efficiency with a hands-on approach and helps fight climate change," said Kimmo Makinen head of ABB's Energy Management unit in Finland. Energy Manager is completely scalable. The modular system can start with basic energy monitoring and reporting at a single facility, later expand to include multiple sites, or be implemented throughout the entire company to optimize energy use and manage energy-supply costs. LKAB a world leading producer of processed iron ore products for steelmaking, and a growing supplier of mineral products for other industrial sectors, has an option to expand the system in the future to include the ports of Narvik and Lulea, which serve as the major export hubs for the company. ABB
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