Energy efficient modernisation of a metal processing company, Kazakhstan

The client is a large metal processing company with the production capacity of three thousand reinforced concrete units per month. With demand growing, the company is investing in capacity expansion and production improvement.

The company decided to reduce energy consumption and improve competitiveness through replacement of outdated equipment. It applied to KazSEFF for financing of this investment.

The KazSEFF team performed the project analysis, assessed the potential for energy savings, financial-technical parameters and risks.

The project consisted of installation of new press scissors to reduce operational costs and energy consumption in the melting furnaces, decentralisation of the compressed air system, heat recovery and automatic control systems.

The $1.6 million KazSEFF investment allowed the company to achieve savings of $600,000 per year. This means the investment will be repaid out of savings in three years. In the following years, the cash-flow will be company’s net profit. The savings are coming from the reduction of energy consumption amounting to 30,000 MWh per year, as well as lower operational costs and raw material waste. In addition, through this project the company is expected to reduce its CO2 emissions by 7,700 tonnes per year.

This project demonstrates that energy savings are possible in all sectors and lead to multiple benefits. Therefore, it is worth checking the energy saving potential when considering expansion investments.

The EBRD supports the implementation of such sustainable energy projects by the private sector through KazSEFF. Together, the private, residential and public sectors can make a change in energy consumption patterns and contribute to the environmental protection of the country.

This project was supported by UK EBRD Sustainable Energy Fund, the Japan-Europe Cooperation Fund, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the German Ministry for Environment.