At KEC, we believe that preserving and enhancing Natural world is important in our journey to build a more resilient business. Our plans to enhance the natural world revolve around our strategies on three broad focus areas of decarbonisation, water positive approach and circularity. The core of this strategy includes initiatives to reduce energy consumption and minimise carbon footprint, conserve and recycle water, bring down material consumption and reduce and recycle waste, amongst others, in addition to deploying new technologies and enabling a sustainable supply chain.
Decarbonisation
KEC is constantly striving to reduce the environmental impact of all its business activities, especially manufacturing and construction, with stringent internal control criteria for reduction in energy consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) defined for all locations. Our Scope 1 emissions are due to the consumption of fuels such as petrol, high speed diesel, furnace oil, natural gas, LPG and CNG. Our Scope 2 emissions are on account of utilisation of the grid electricity supplied by state utilities.
We operate in an industry which is highly energy intensive and hence opportunities to minimise energy consumption is an important element of our journey towards decarbonisation. The Company continues to make process improvements and investments in energy efficiency initiatives to reduce carbon footprint.
Our Goals:
Key Initiatives:
- Installation of additional solar energy capacity at manufacturing units in Jaipur and Nagpur, and a new solar plant in Dubai (in progress), to increase the share of renewable energy in our energy mix and reduce specific greenhouse gas emissions as well as costs
- Procurement of energy from renewable sources to fulfil energy requirement for Cables plants in Mysuru and Vadodara
- Use of induction furnace based on electricity instead of fossil fuel, for lower carbon emissions, resulting in an 8% reduction in emissions intensity this year
- Use of advanced multi-fuel fired furnaces with microprocessor-controlled burners to reduce fuel consumption
- Deployment of low-cost Kaizen’s such as automation of fuel control valves for better control of fuel usage in Bending Furnace
- Installation of waste heat recovery system and use of latent flue gases for galvanising furnaces to conserve energy
- Deployment of energy-efficient LED lighting solutions and elimination of exhaust fans by replacing them with natural ventilators
- Shifting / re-planting of trees that may be affected by construction activities
Illumination through natural light at Cables manufacturing unit, Vadodara
Induction Heater, Dubai
Solar rooftop power plant, Jaipur
Water Positive Approach
Water resource management plays a vital role at our manufacturing plants and project sites. The manufacturing and construction sectors are highly water intensive and various measures have been taken to bring down the overall water footprint.
Our Goal:
Key Initiatives:
- Complete recycling of both, trade effluents and domestic wastewater through Effluent Treatment Plants and Sewage Treatment Plants at our manufacturing facilities, to achieve ‘Zero Wastewater Discharge’
- Installation of 14 rainwater harvesting structures in the manufacturing facilities to reduce water consumption, in our endeavour of making them water-positive facilities
- Establishing natural water harvesting system by constructing water ponds for enhanced water table throughout the year, even in peak summer
- Installation of pressure control valves to avoid wastages and leakages and conducting training sessions on managing and responding to major water leaks
- Use of aerator on taps and reduction in pipe sizes to reduce water flow in processes, ETP-STP recycled water
- Use of curing compounds as a partial alternative to water, for construction works at project sites to conserve water usage
Rainwater harvesting pond, Jabalpur
Rainwater harvesting system, Jaipur
STP plant for waste water treatment, Jabalpur
Circularity
Our EHS policy is embedded with the objective of reducing environmental degradation, with a focus on 3Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle resources and hazardous waste, to help combat the perils of climate change. As an EPC company, we primarily use steel, zinc, aluminium, copper, and cement as raw materials for our business operations, which also generate waste by-products. We have strengthened our efforts to optimise the use of resources while delivering products and projects of best-in-class quality, and consistently minimise the generation of harmful waste.
Our Goal:
Key Initiatives:
- Modernisation of our plant and machineries and adoption of Lean Manufacturing practices for continuous improvement in yield, resulting into reduction in usage and wastage of minerals and metals such as steel, zinc, and copper
- Cutting down acid, steel, and zinc waste –
- Reduction in Acid Neutralisation sludge by improving acid life and installation of an acid recovery plant to utilise the regenerated acid; sending the by-product to cement players for incineration, thereby reducing the amount of hazardous waste reaching the landfills
- Sending steel waste to nearby foundries, where 100% of the steel scrap is utilised in making billets and castings
- Establishment of an inhouse zinc recovery mechanism from zinc ash, resulting into reduction of hazardous waste generation and its conservation. The Zinc process waste is sold to secondary Zinc product manufacturers resulting in more than 90% recycling.
- Digital monitoring of zinc consumption to reduce wastage
- Design optimisation of transmission towers and cables to enhance process efficiency and minimise overconsumption of raw materials
- Installation of pressure control valves to avoid wastages and leakages and conducting training sessions on managing and responding to major water leaks
- Substituting wood-based packaging with flexi recyclable packaging material for transmission towers, structures, and cables
- Developing eco-friendly hybrid drums for cables with steel and HDPE sheets to reduce steel and eliminate wood
Acid Recovery Plant, Nagpur
Hybrid Drums for Cables, Vadodara