Internal and cross sectional benchmarking of electrical energy use in opencast coal mine

Electrical energy consumption in the opencast coal mine is very high. Electric shovels, pumps and coal handling plants consume 75% of the total electricity consumption of an opencast coal mine. In this paper, a modelling framework has been developed for electrical energy use benchmarking (internal as well as cross-sectional) of the mine. To develop a mine specific model for benchmarking electrical energy use statistical approach (linear regression method) has been applied. Specific power consumption (SPC) is used as a benchmarking index to assess the operating energy performance of a specific mine and multiple coal mines of India based on the field studies. Seasonal analysis of the electrical energy usage has also been analysed. Our results show the benchmark SPC as 0.50 kWh/t and the energy-saving potential as 10.7% for a single mine and the benchmark SPC of multiple coal mines as 0.52 kWh/t. The result concludes that SPC widely depends on its capacity and mining method and the developed model are useful for benchmarking and targeting for efficient electrical energy use in opencast mine.