Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: The Westküste100 green hydrogen project has received funding approval from the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs. The plan is backed by an investment of Euro89m, with Euro30m of this total approved for the project’s launch in August 2020. The initiative intends to produce green hydrogen, transport it in the gas network, use it in industrial processes and to interlink different material cycles within the existing infrastructure. The consortium brings together ten partners: EDF Deutschland, Holcim Deutschland, OGE, Ørsted Deutschland, Raffinerie Heide, Heide’s municipal utility, Thüga and ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions, along with the Region Heide development agency and the Westküste University of Applied Sciences.

“An electrolysis plant with a capacity of 700MW - this is our vision and the next milestone in implementing the development targets laid down in the national hydrogen strategy by 2030,” said Jürgen Wollschläger, managing director of Raffinerie Heide and coordinator of the Westküste100 project.

The funding approval enables work to begin on the first phase of the project, which is set to run for five years. A newly formed joint venture, H2 Westküste, comprising EDF Deutschland, Ørsted and Raffinerie Heide, is to build a 30MW electrolyser which will produce green hydrogen from offshore wind energy and provide information on the operation, maintenance, control and grid compatibility of the equipment.

In a later stage of the project hydrogen from both electrolysis and CO₂ from a cement plant in Schleswig-Holstein will be used in the process. During the initial phase of the Westküste100 project preparations will be made for converting the Lägerdorf cement plant to an oxyfuel combustion process.

Thorsten Hahn, chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of Holcim (Deutschland) said, “For us, as a manufacturer of building materials, the funding approval is a key milestone on the way to decarbonising cement production. Now all of us involved in Westküste100 must move forward quickly, decisively and dynamically in order to achieve our ultimate goal of cross-sectoral coupling on a large industrial scale in the coming years.”

Germany/UK: Langley Holdings says that the order intake for its subsidiary Claudius Peters was behind target for the first half of 2020 and expected to remain so for the rest of the year due to the associated lead time. Due to market disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic the group has implemented short-time working and agreed “tariff reductions with the workforce” to reduce costs.

Overall, the group’s revenue rose by 3.4% year-on-year to Euro411m in the first half of 2020 from Euro397m in the same period in 2019. However, this was attributed to its acquisition of Marelli Motori in mid-2019. Its operating profit dropped by 81% to Euro3.84m from Euro20.5m.

“Although the 2020 result is not yet secure at this point, we do have reasonable visibility on the second half and my principal concern now is for 2021, although the extent to which Coronavirus impacts our businesses next year will not start to become apparent until the autumn. Currently all divisions are reporting delays to capital equipment order placements and I expect these delays to continue into next year. I hope to be proven wrong but any notion of a rapid recovery from the economic fallout from Coronavirus would in my view, be wishful thinking,” said Anthony J Langley, the chairman of Langley Holdings.

Germany: HeidelbergCement’s revenue fell by 10% year-on-year to Euro8.25bn in the first half of 2020 from Euro9.21bn in the same period in 2019. Its result from current operations before depreciation and amortisation (RCOBD) decreased by 2% to Euro1.40bn from Euro1.44bn. Sales volumes of cement dropped by 8% to 56.3Mt, aggregates by 7% to 135Mt and ready-mixed concrete (RMX) by 11% to 21.7Mm³. Its net debt decreased by 1.4% to Euro8.99bn.

“In the second quarter, revenue dropped in many countries, in some cases by double-digit percentages. Nevertheless, we achieved a good result, which was almost at the previous year’s level. The successful implementation of our COPE action plan played a large part in this,” said Dominik von Achten, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement.

By region the group noted major falls in sales volumes, revenues and RCOBD in Western and Southern Europe and Asia-Pacific. Although it said that the construction industry in Germany had ‘hardly been affected by the corona crisis’ despite significant negative effects elsewhere in Europe.

Germany: HeidelbergCement has estimated sales of Euro4.32bn in the second quarter of 2020, down by 13% year-on-year from Euro4.97bn in the corresponding quarter of 2019. The figure is 11% higher than the average market expectation of Euro3.91bn.

The company said, “With the COPE action plan, the company has already launched a comprehensive bundle of measures in February 2020 that focuses on cost savings and maintaining liquidity. These measures took effect especially in the second quarter of 2020 and made a significant contribution to the fact that cost savings largely offset the burden on earnings caused by the Covid-19-related decline in revenue.”

Germany: HeidelbergCement has reported the successful resurfacing of a section of Federal Motorway 5 (BAB 5) between Karlsruhe and Frankfurt using a concrete made from low-alkali cement produced at its 1.4Mt/yr-capacity Schelklingen, Baden-Württemberg integrated cement plant. The company used over 3600t of cement to produce the 12,000m³ of concrete required for the 3.2km stretch of road. Traffic infrastructure product manager Klaus Felsch said, “The cement’s low alkali content significantly reduces the risk of an alkali-silica reaction and maximizes the durability of the concrete.”

Uzbekistan: Akhangarantsement says that it has installed a ThyssenKrupp raw materials grinding unit at the site of an upcoming 5Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Tashkent Region. The equipment consists of a jaw crusher for primary crushing and a hammer mill for secondary crushing. The company said that the upcoming plant will “provide the market with a line of high-quality products for the construction of housing, industrial and infrastructure facilities.”

Philippines: Germany-based Gebr. Pfeiffer says a ready2grind system it supplied to Petra Cement started in early December 2019. The clinker grinding mill is operational at a grinding plant on the Zamboanga Peninsula in Mindanao. No value for the order has been disclosed. Petra Cement’s sister company , Big Boss Cement, has also ordered a modular mill system from Gebr. Pfeiffer.

UK: Germany-based Loesche has joined a network of expert companies that “share relevant information and results regarding the reduction of environmental impact and the use of coal and enhanced energy security globally” in becoming an IEA Clean Coal Centre knowledge partner. The company said, “We are excited to be part of this renowned group of companies that aim to improve the environmental impact by use of green technologies, renewable resources, and alternative use of energy sources for more sustainable engineering projects.”

Germany: Following a comprehensive review of its assets HeidelbergCement has announced a Euro3.4bn impairment to its company value compared to the figure from a precious valuation prior to the second quarter of 2020. The company gave the reasons for the impairment as: the demand impacts of the coronavirus pandemic; economic effects on operations in individual countries; notably in the UK post-Brexit; and an increase in the market risk premium used by the Institut für Wirtschaftsprüfer (German public auditing body) for valuation to 7% from 6%. The largest regional impairment was Euro2.7bn, in Western and Southern Europe. Euro2.3bn of the total impairment, “relates to the Hanson acquisition” by HeidelbergCement in 2007.

Germany: HeidelbergCement has published its sustainability report for 2019. The building materials producer says it decreased its specific gross CO₂ emissions per tonne of cement by 0.9% year-on-year to 622kg/t in 2019 from 628kg/t in 2018. Absolute net CO₂ emissions also fell, by 4.6% to 68.4Mt from 71.7Mt. Indirect CO₂ emission grew by 4.8% to 4.4Mt from 4.2Mt, though energy consumption in cement production fell by 3.5% to 364,000TJ from 377,000TJ.

HeidelbergCement chair Dominic von Achten said, “We have declared our express commitment to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals. In particular, we will continue to intensify our commitment to tackling climate change in the coming years.”