Water and Energy
Water
On the water management front our focus is towards reducing fresh water consumption and increasing recycling and reuse of treated effluent. The total water consumption includes water used for industrial and domestic consumption; construction and horticulture activities and water supplied to local communities. The sources of water include surface water, ground water, harvested rainwater and local municipalities.
We have a robust system to undertake and monitor our water conservation targets. Reduction in specific water consumption by 5-10% is part of our business plan every year. Accordingly our water managers located at each of our sites identify and monitor progress on water conservation projects in consultation with the operating teams. These targets and projects are reviewed by the Board level HSE committee every quarter.
In a drive towards water conservation, we have supplemented our existing systems with either new or additional Reverse Osmosis Plant. Our operations at HZL, Copper India, VAL, MALCO, BALCO smelter and Sesa Goa continue to follow the concept of zero discharge. In these operations, the treated effluent and sewage is largely used for horticultural activities.
The continuous focus has enabled us in reducing the specific water consumptions by up to 50% across our operations in last five years
Energy
Continuous reduction in specific energy consumption is a focus area from an environmental as well as economic perspective. Over the years, it has helped us in improving our performance across operations. We consider energy conservation targets of 3-5% at all locations as part of the business plan. Projects for energy conservation are identified and undertaken in a systematic manner and are reviewed by the board level HSE committee every quarter.
We use energy efficient technologies (for example Point Feeder pre-baked technology for aluminium smelters and Jumbo Cell house for zinc smelters); in all our expansion projects.
Some of our energy conservation initiatives include installation of variable frequency drives at BALCO, MALCO, HZL and Sesa Goa; process optimization by installing Fuse technology at BALCO; and optimization of cooling water flow in smelters along with size optimization of pumps at Copper India.
The continuous focus has enabled us in reducing the specific energy consumptions by up to 40% across our operations in last five years.