Displaying items by tag: Electricity

Peru: UNACEM Peru said that it reduced its CO₂ emissions per tonne of cement by 2.7% year-on-year during 2022. Throughout the year, the company reduced its electricity consumption by 3.4%. It sourced 90% of its electricity from renewable sources and met 70% of its fuel needs with natural gas. UNACEM Peru is committed to reaching carbon neutral cement production by 2050.

In terms of community engagement, the producer benefitted 76,700 people through its social infrastructure investments and 14,1000 people through its dialogue space initiatives, and provided its remote health guidance service to 3000 people.

India: Ramco Cements has commissioned a 3000t/day integrated cement line at its Ramamasamy Raja Nagar cement plant in Tamil Nadu. Projects Today News has reported that the plant runs on renewable energy from a captive wind farm, and recycles 90% of water used in production.

Ramco Cements produces Ramco 53 Infra Super cement at the Ramamasamy Raja Nagar plant. The product allows for lower cement and admixture content to be used in the production of concrete structures.

India: Ambuja Cements and its subsidiary ACC have transitioned to reporting their results in line with the (April - March) Indian financial year. As such, they have published 15-month results for 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. During the period, Ambuja Cements reported sales of US$4.75bn, up by 34% year-on-year from US$3.53bn. Its cement volumes rose by 28% to 68Mt, while its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 11% to US$714m. Meanwhile, ACC recorded sales of US$2.71bn, up by 38% from US$1.97bn in 2021. Its cement volumes rose by 31% to 37.9Mt, while its EBITDA fell by 30% to US$275m.

ACC announced its goal to become India's 'most profitable cement company.' To realise this, the company will implement a three-pronged strategy of capacity expansion, efficiency improvements and development of its distributor and dealer network. Under the capacity expansion heading, the producer will double its production capacity through the construction of new cement plants and the expansion of existing ones. In this, it will lay special emphasis on securing supplies of renewable energy and supplementary cementitious materials, including fly ash from its own power plant segment. The company noted that it recently secured access to 1Bnt-worth of new limestone reserves in Maharashtra, Odisha, Karnataka and Rajasthan. It will also seek to increase its coal production to avoid the rising cost of imports.

In the 2024 financial year, the government of India plans to invest US$11.4bn in the construction of new housing, roads and sanitation infrastructure nationally. Ambuja Cements has forecast an increase in domestic cement consumption of 6 - 8% to over 390Mt/yr. It expects Indian cement production to rise by 8 - 10% year-on-year to 390Mt in the 2024 financial year.

Ethiopia: Derba MIDROC Cement is reportedly ready to sign a contract with China National Building Material (CNBM), for the latter to commence construction of Derba MIDROC Cement's 2.74Mt/yr Mughar Valley cement plant in Oromia. The producer said that it expects to invest US$500m in the project, 30% higher than its previous estimate of US$385m. Addis Fortune has reported that Derba MIDROC Cement now believes there to be adequate energy infrastructure to support the plant, following China-based Sinohydro's construction of a new US$12m power line from nearby Chanco.

When commissioned, the plant will double Derba MIDROC Cement's capacity and create 3000 new jobs in Oromia. The producer also hopes to ease the ongoing national cement shortage. The Ministry of Mines recorded domestic production of 7.6Mt in 2022, against demand of 36Mt.

Europe/India: Finland-based Betolar has secured EU-wide and Indian patents for a new waste-based alternative concrete produced without cement and capable of storing energy. Betolar said that the material, which is already patented in Finland, is especially suited for use in renewable energy infrastructure, where it can provide a storage solution for dealing with short-term peaks. Chief commercial officer Ville Voipio said that the company will now seek to establish a partnership for commercialisation of its new alternative building material.

Betolar produces and markets the Geoprime additive used to produce cement-free concrete from supplementary cementitious materials, including ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), in regions that include India and the EU.

Sweden: Heidelberg Materials Sweden has called for swifter action to be taken by the government on a planned upgrade to the mains electricity supply to the island of Gotland. The building materials company is planning to build a full-scale carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) unit at its integrated Slite cement plant on the island by 2030. However, the newly approved plans to build two new electrical transmission cables to Gotland are currently scheduled for completion in 2031. The cement plant is expected to require annual electricity requirements of up to 1.5TWh with a power requirement of up to 250MW when the CCS unit is completed.

The cement producer has welcomed the government’s upgrade plans so far but has impressed the urgency of its timeline to build a CCS unit at the Slite plant. It says it is currently considering investing around Euro850m on the project. If completed the CCS unit is expected to capture up to 1.8Mt/yr of CO₂. The company said that this corresponds to approximately 3% of Sweden's emissions annually.

India: The India Cements recorded full-year consolidated sales of US$678m during the 2023 financial year, up by 15% year-on-year from 2022 financial year levels. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that the company increased its cement sales volumes by 9%, in line with overall volumes growth in the cement industry in India. It reported a net loss of US$205m, compared with a US$7.97m net profit in the previous financial year.

The India Cements said "The performance of the company during the year under review was adversely impacted by the record increase in the cost of fuel and power, which could not be compensated in the market due to supply overhang."

Vietnam: The Vietnam National Cement Association (VNCA) expects members to record a 13% drop in their gross profit in 2023 due to a 3% rise in electricity prices. At the same time, it expects cement demand to fall due to the slowing of residential construction activity. During the first quarter of 2023, Vietnamese cement exports to China fell by 90% in value terms.

Việt Nam News has reported that electricity costs constitute 15% of operating expenses for the Vietnamese cement sector.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem reported first-quarter sales of Euro956m in 2023, up by 20% year-on-year from Euro800m in the first quarter of 2022. The producer's cement volumes dropped by 8.8% to 5.8Mt from 6.36Mt. It attributed this to a general slowdown of the construction sector across its markets. Local low demand from the residential market and adverse weather compounded the regional sales contraction in Central Europe. On the other hand, the group recorded volumes growth in Mexico and Russia and stability in Brazil. Both Mexico and Brazil produced revenues growth, while Buzzi Unicem's revenues fell in Russia due to the effect of the appreciation of the ruble against the comparison period in 2022, when the start of the on-going Russian invasion of Ukraine devalued it.

Overall, the group expects to 'easily' match its 2022 full-year earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2023. It said that that it could not currently delineate a 'clearly different picture,' but added "The stabilisation of energy prices, albeit at higher levels than in 2022, if confirmed, will allow us to have better visibility on the unfolding of the production costs from spring onwards."

India: Ambuja Cements has placed orders with equipment suppliers for an 8Mt/yr clinker capacity expansion across two of its cement plants. The plants in question are the 2.9Mt/yr Bhatapara cement plant in Chhattisgarh and the 4.5Mt/yr Maratha cement plant in Maharashtra. Ambuja Cements will also build 42MW-worth of waste heat recovery (WHR) power capacity. The new cement capacity will be able to operate on renewable energy and use 50% alternative fuel (AF). As such, upon completion of the project, the plants will together produce 14Mt/yr of Ambuja Cements' reduced-CO₂ Blended Green Cement. The producer will fund the work through internal accruals, and expects to complete it in May 2025.

CEO Ajay Kapur said "These brownfield expansion projects are part of our strategy to double our production capacity over the next five years from the current capacity of 67.5Mt/yr. Our ongoing investments in capacity expansion and sustainability will enable us to achieve our long-term objectives, as we remain committed to delivering sustainable growth and value to our stakeholders."