Large, energy intensive cooling systems are found on deep level mines to supply chilled service water and cool ventilation air to the mine. The need exists for a simple, real-time energy management tool for large, integrated cooling systems. A versatile energy management system was developed for the large cooling systems of deep mines as a typical example of a generic systems-based energy management tool. The system connects to the SCADA systems of mines and features a hierarchical control function. Set points of various subsystems are optimised in real-time by means of an integrated, systems approach. Real-time monitoring and automatic reporting functions support integrated energy management. In this paper, the development and viability of the system as a practical and versatile energy management platform are presented. In situ experimental results from implementation on four large cooling systems of different designs, sizes and requirements are considered to investigate the potential for such energy management tools. An average electrical energy saving of 33.3% is realised for all the sites without adversely affecting mine cooling requirements. The potential for application to other large cooling systems is also shown. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.