Practical quantification of coal energy consumption in large manufacturing industries for verifiable energy reporting and energy incentive applications

Accurate energy measurement and quantification is essential for energy reporting, carbon tax reporting and the claiming of energy incentives such as Section 121 and Section I2L of the South African Income Tax Act. With regards to this measurement and quantification, the reporting of both electricity and gas consumption is relatively simple compared to that of coal. However, coal makes up a large percentage of a steel manufacturing plants´ total energy consumption. Due to the existence of multiple suppliers and different compositions and qualities of coal, it is difficult to accurately quantity the energy content of said coal without complex analyses. However, current methods use inaccurate and outdated data sources, models and methodologies in this process. The need therefore exists for a practical, dynamic, reliable and accurate method to quantity the coal energy consumption of a plant. As part of this study, an investigation was done on the availability of all metering data, both on- and off-site. This data was then analysed based on availability, traceability and accuracy. Based on the criteria set in current standards a model was developed to calculate the coal energy content using verifiable data and information. A further model was then developed for the collection, verification and modelling of a plant´s total coal energy consumption. Three case studies of South African based steel manufacturing facilities are presented. The plants´ different coal sources and types were collected from verified data. This data includes invoices, calibration and verification certificates, coal analyses and measurements from weighing equipment. The methodology presented was used to quantity the coal energy consumption of the facilities and this was compared to the traditional way of quantification.