On September 30, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The implementation of energy-saving measures has enabled Vitebsk Open Joint-Stock Company "Keramika" to compete in price with brick manufacturers from the Moscow region, as reported today to journalists by the company's General Director, Petr Prizhitomsky, in response to a question from a BELTA correspondent. According to him, about 70% of "Keramika" products are exported to the Moscow region. Considering that intra-Russian gas prices apply to brick manufacturers in the Moscow region, their products should be cheaper than those from Vitebsk. However, the prime cost of bricks at OJSC "Keramika" is approximately 2.5 times lower than the Russian ones, and even transportation costs do not significantly affect its price for the end consumer. Over eight months, the sales profitability of "Keramika" amounted to 11%, and net profit exceeded Br7 billion. The products' competitiveness has largely been achieved thanks to the implementation of projects aimed at reducing the consumption of fuel and energy resources, emphasized Petr Prizhitomsky. "Keramika" implemented four energy-saving measures in collaboration with the UNDP/GEF project "Energy Efficiency in Belarus": it built a mini-CHP plant running on natural gas based on gas piston units with a capacity of 2.8 MW; it employs frequency-controlled drives on draft fans; it replaced water-ring vacuum pumps with oil ones; it installed burners with staged compression control of the gas-air mixture and automation of combustion processes in the preparation zone of a two-channel kiln. The use of frequency-controlled drives on draft fans allows for a reduction in electricity consumption by 1.5 million kWh per year, and the use of oil pumps has reduced electricity consumption by 970 thousand kWh. The generation of own electricity at the mini-CHP plant saves Br400 million per month. The implementation of these and other energy-saving measures has enabled OJSC "Keramika" to reduce the share of fuel and energy resources in the prime cost from 60% in 2007 to the current 47%. -0-

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