Reducing the costs of electrical energy in the Copper Mining and Smelting Complex RTB Bor by the use of distributed control system

Monitoring and control of consumption of electricity for great consumers, such as Copper Mining and Smelting Complex RTB Bor (Serbia), requires synchronized actions in different production plants. First of all, it is necessary to achieve an effective exchange of actual information between the production units and control centers. The responce time has to be small enough in order to implement timely impact on the reduction of peak power at the consumer transformer stations. Such control systems can be classified as soft real time systems. The fact is that for large customers reduction of peak power on a monthly basis for only 1% is reflected in substantial financial savings (in the order of magnitude of thousands of euros). This data justifies the need for existence and proper functioning of these control systems. The paper presents results of development and implementation of our own solutions for distributed systems management of electricity consumption, both at the company level and in each individual production plant. A special attention is paid to presentation of the software solutions, as well as achievements in practical implementation.