Displaying items by tag: Solar power

Cambodia: Chip Mong Insee Cement has commissioned a 9.8MW solar power system provided by Cleantech Solar. The system includes a 2.8MW floating solar power plant deployed on the plant’s reservoir and 7MW installed across multiple rooftops of the site. In addition, the deployment of the floating solar system will shield the reservoir from wind and the direct hot midday sun which is expected to reduce water loss through evaporation, contributing to Chip Mong Insee Cement’s water conservation efforts.

Cleantech Solar is a provider of renewable energy to companies in Southeast Asia and India. Based in Singapore, it owns and operates more than 120 solar power plants across the region, representing over 200MW of projects, with the majority in operation and the rest under construction and development.

India: Birla Corporation’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose due to increased sales of blended cement in the last quarter of 2018. Blended cements represented 89% of its total sales volumes compared to 85% in the same period in 2017.

The company’s net sales grew by 14.6% to US$653m in the nine months to the end of 2018 from US$569m in the same period in 2017. Its EBITDA rose by 17.1% to US$96.8m from US$82.7m. Its cement production increased by 10.5% to 9.86Mt from 8.92Mt and its cement sales increased by 9.9% to 9.79Mt from 8.92Mt. It said that better sales in key markets had offset raw material price rises such as petcoke, coal and diesel. It noted that the price of diesel had risen by over 20% in the reporting period although it had started to soften in the most recent quarter.

The cement producer held a ground breaking ceremony in late January 2019 for a new plant being built by its RCCPL subsidiary at Yavatmai district in Maharashtra. The 3.9Mt/yr unit has an investment of US$342m and it includes a 40MW captive power plant and a 10.6MW waste heat recovery (WHR) system. Commissioning is scheduled for the 2021 – 2022 financial year. The company is also planning to upgrade RCCPL’s plant at Kundanganj with 1.2Mt/yr of additional production capacity. Other new projects include a 12.25MW WHR system at Maihar that is expected to be commissioned in mid-2019. It is building solar power plants at Maihar, Chanderia and Satna with 11MW, 3.6MW and 1.2MW capacity respectively. Birla Corporation also said that restrictions on using explosives placed on limestone mining at Chanderia in Rajasthan had increased its costs.

Egypt: The Arabian Cement Company is to collaborate with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Qatar National Bank (QNB) to build a solar power plant at its Suez cement plant. The banks are providing funding of over US$5m to support the project, according to the Daily News Egypt newspaper. The solar plant will be built in collaboration with Solarize Egypt. It is scheduled to start operation in the second quarter of 2019.

Spain: Cemex has signed a Euro117m deal with the local government to convert the land used by the Gádor cement plant in Almeria for use by new projects. These will include projects in solar and wind power generation, waste fuel production from plastics and biomass and a new concrete batching plant, according to Teleprensa. The initiative is intended to create around 400 jobs.

The cement producer has also signed a similar agreement for its Lloseta in Baleares. The company announced in mid-October 2018 that it was planning to close the two plants due to reduced demand for cement and mounting European CO₂ emissions regulations.

France: The SOLPART (Solar-Heated Reactors for Industrials Production of Reactive Particulates) project plans to test a pilot-scale version of its solar reactor from February 2019. The 50kW solar reactor will test a fluidised bed system at its PROMES (PROcédés, Materials and Solar Energy) testing site in Odeillo. The ultimate goal of the project is to test using a rotary kiln and a fluidised bed system to produce cement, lime, gypsum and other non-metallic products using only solar energy. The pilot scale reactor will test calcining limestone at a rate of 50kg/hr. Industrial partners involved with the project include Cemex.

India: UltraTech Cement has created a joint venture with Amplus Energy to expand its solar power generation capacity. The cement producer has acquired a 26% stake in the Amplus Sunshine, according to VCCircle Network. Amplus Sunshine will set up a 15MW captive solar plant at one of UltraTech’s Cement’s plants for an investment of around US$10m. The cement producer has a capacity of 50MW from its solar power plants but it intends to increase this. Amplus Energy installs rooftop solar power plants for the industrial and commercial sector.

India: Emami Cement has been granted permission by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to demerge its solar power assets. The cement producer has decided to focus on its core business, according to the Daily News and Analysis newspaper. The solar business part of the cement producer operates a 10MW plant at Gujarat Solar Park in Patan, Gujarat and a 3MW plant at Perunali in Tamil Nadu. The subsidiary of Emami Group will eventually be consolidated into sister company Emami Power.

China: Jianghua Conch has launched a 5.9MW solar plant project. Its subsidiary, Jianghua Conch New Energy, will build the unit. No date for the completion of the project has been disclosed. Jianghua Conch is a subsidiary of Anhui Conch based in Hunan province.

Namibia: Ohorongo Cement officially inaugurated its 5MW photovoltaic solar plant this week at its head offices at Farm Sargber near Otavi in the Otjozondjupa Region.

Speaking at the opening, Tom Alweendo, Minister of Mines and Energy said that solar electricity generation had grown so exponentially in Namibia since the inception of the Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff programme in 2014.

Pakisan: Fauji Cement has approved plans to set up a 12.5MW captive solar plant. The company operates a 3.4Mt/yr cement plant near to Attock in Punjab Province.