Energy saving now a priority
PPC at the forefront of cutting costs
LISTED cement and lime producers introduced predictive production software at some of its factories as an energy saving initiative and to take stress off the national energy grid.
Energy service company HVAC has entered into a partnership with PPC to provide technology to sites, such as PPC’s Hercules plant in Pretoria, that helps monitor electricity consumption and production levels to plan production around peak times.
Egmont Ottermann, PPC’s group energy manager, said that this software helped PPC monitor factory production and silo levels to ensure stock levels were high enough for them to switch off a unit during peak times.
Ottermann said that PPC had been working with HVAC since 2006 and was constantly trying to optimise the performance of its equipment to minimise its electricity costs.
He said that this energy saving initiative had already been rolled out to five PPC plants, including Hercules, and plugged directly into PPC’s control systems.
Energy-related costs, which include diesel, coal and electricity, constitute about 30 percent of PPC’s total input costs and resulted in the company embarking on several environmental and alternative energy initiatives to reduce costs.
Successful
Ottermann said the Hercules plant alone could consume up to 10MW, depending on which equipment was being used and believed this project had been resoundingly successful and resulted in significant cost savings.
“Load shifting is an important part of reducing the likelihood of load shedding. Although each single contribution seems as if it is just a drop in the ocean, everyone needs to do their part.
“By doing so, it is only going to make us all more resilient once we come out of this crisis. If this power crisis is going to last five years, then