South Africa’s largest steel producer, ArcelorMittal, has reported significant energy savings after managing and optimising energy usage at their Western Cape (Saldanha) plant. This was achieved with the help of the National Cleaner Production Centre of South Africa (NCPC-SA) www.ncpc.co.za by challenging and changing some of its standard operational practices, rather than major capital investment. The savings turned around the future prospects of the plant, which was facing closure at the onset of the initiative in 2011.
The plant served as a pilot site for the IEE Project which is managed by the NCPC-SA. The NCPC-SA is hosted by the CSIR on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti).
The introduction and implementation of interventions to manage and optimise energy usage at this plant required an investment of a mere R500 000, but led to gross financial savings of more than R89.6 million within the first year (2011). By the end of June 2013, the value of energy savings had reached R176 million and it is estimated that the savings realised will account for R362 million by 2016.