Renewable Energy in Cement Industry.

Cement industry in India is playing a major role in utilizing renewable energy sources, highlights Dr. S.B. Hegde.

The Indian renewable energy sector is the fourth most attractive renewable energy market in the world. As of October 2018, India ranked 5th in installed renewable energy capacity. According to 2018 Climate scope report India ranked second among the emerging economies to lead to transition to clean energy.

Installed renewable power generation capacity has increased at a fast pace over the past few years, posting a CAGR of 19.78 per cent between FY14-18. With the increased support of government and improved economics, the sector has become attractive from investors perspective. As India looks to meet its energy demand on its own, which is expected to reach 15,820 TWh by 2040, renewable energy is set to play an important role. As a part of its Paris Agreement commitments, the Government of India has set an ambitious target of achieving 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022. These include 100 GW of solar capacity addition and 60 GW of wind power capacity. Government plans to establish renewable energy capacity of 500 GW by 2030.

Renewable Energy Scenario in India

The installed capacity of renewable energy generation in the country has grown 72 per cent from 80 gigawatt (GW) to 138.9 GW during the past six years. The foreign direct investments of $6.1 billion flew into the Indian clean energy sector — including solar, wind, biomass, large hydro and nuclear — in the five year period 2014-19.

Globally, India stands third in terms of renewable power, fourth in terms of wind power, and fifth in terms of solar power installed capacity. For the period 2014-2019, clean energy investments in India were about $75 billion. Of the renewable energy sources, excluding large hydro above 25 MW, installed capacity of solar energy capacity registered the highest growth. It grew from 2.6 GW in March 2014 to 34.4 GW in February this year.

As part of its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, as per the Paris Climate Agreement, India has committed to install around 40 per cent of its power generation capacity based on non-fossil fuel resources by 2030.

An additional 62.4 GW clean energy capacity is currently under various stages of implementation and 34.07 GW is under various stages of bidding. Most of the clean energy projects, except nuclear power and some large hydro, are set-up in the country by the private sector.

Renewable Power Consumption in Cement Industry

According to Chatam House report, cement production is responsible for 8% of Global CO2 emissions.  This reality is not in line with Paris Agreement, which proposes to restrict the increase of global temperature to below 2-degree C.

Most cement manufacturers found ways to reduce their carbon footprints by increasing energy efficiency, investing carbon capture and storage technologies and lowering their clinker factor. These actions are essential to fight global warning. However, there is a part of the problem often overlooked by the cement industry; indirect emissions related to the use of electricity and heat in the cement plant.

Solution to this issue is to switch to renewable energy. Technologies that enable electricity to be generated by the wind, sun, water, biomass have become mature, reliable and now most importantly, cheaper than fossil fuels.  Renewable energy sourcing, which a few years ago was the whim of the rich economies is now available to industrial and commercial users around the world.

One way to go greener is long term renewable energy off take contracts between industrial customers and power producers, known as 'Power Purchase Agreement' (PPA).  This is not a new one, the first deals made about 10 years ago.  However, they have increased in recent years in both size and frequency with a record capacity of 13.4 GW contracted globally in 2018.

Cement Industry Examples

Power plants based on renewable sources such as wind and solar energy has a great potential to become an integral part of new cement plants.

Waste Heat Recovery System (WHRS)

WHRS has a potential to generate about 20% to 30% of plant power requirements (reducing purchased / captive power needs). It uses hot gases from the clinker cooler or pre-heater to heat a liquid and generate steam, to generate in turn electricity for powering the cement plant. The power generation methods in WHRS work on Steam Rankine cycle, Organic Rankine cycle and Kalina cycle.

According to IFC (World Bank Group) report, the existing WHR installed capacity is more than 200 MW in India and there is potential to achieve remaining 500-900 MW with estimated investment potential of $1.4 billion.

Solar Power Plant

Solar energy has many merits compared to conventional power sources. The solar prices have been falling, and in many parts of India, the cost of solar power is less than the tariff of power for the industrial sector. Since the solar plants have a lifetime of typically 25 years, the energy prices are locked in, unlike in the case of power from utility companies, which is only expected to increase every year.

By installing solar power plants and solar water heating systems, cement plants can not only meet the obligations under both RPO and PAT mechanisms, but also reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Based on the available area within a cement plant, we can install the solar power plant considering the solar technology suitable for that geographical terrain.

Some of the potential applications of solar energy in cement plants are listed below:

-    Roof top solar PV panels to meet the power requirement of CCR, admin buildings, remote lighting applications like mines

-    Lighting requirements in non-plant buildings, internal roads, pumping water, guesthouse, township, parks, canteen, hospital, school and many more

-    Energy requirement of auxiliary equipment, utilities

-    Preheating of boiler feed water or raw materials

-    Hot water requirement

-    Other possibilities, if any

Wind Power Plants

A wind turbine is a system which transforms the kinetic energy available in the wind into mechanical or electrical energy that can be used for any required application. Some of the advantages of wind power plant are—one-time installation cost, low operational and maintenance cost, no fuel cost, environment friendly and pollution free, lowest gestation period, limited use of land.

Wind farm is located in an area of high wind (usually at a distance to manufacturing facility) with power “wheeled” through national transmission grid. It helps cement manufacturers to take advantage of solar as well as wind energy for their cement plants.

Many Indian cement producers are going for renewable options like solar, wind, waste heat recovery systems etc. Some of the examples (main only) are as follows:

Dalmia Cement has revealed its commitment to dropping its net CO2 emissions to below 0t/yr by 2040 as part of its new 'Future Today' branding. The company's plan consists of a transition to renewable power by 2030 and the adoption of plant matter and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for 100% of its fuel needs. Dalmia's 4.0Mt/yr integrated Ariyalur cement plant in Tamil Nadu will receive a 0.5Mt/yr carbon
capture and storage facility in 2022 at the latest. The UK-based Carbon Clean Solutions will provide technology and operational services for the installation, the largest in the cement industry.

UltraTech Cement plans to generate over 650 million units of renewable power with a target to increase the contribution of green energy to 25 per cent of its total power consumption by 2021. The targeted increase is more than double the current 10 per cent. To achieve the objective, UltraTech plans to increase its Waste Heat Recovery System (WHRS) capacity, enabling a low carbon product mix through thermal substitution.

Conclusion

As demand for power increases in India due to industrial and population growth, fulfilling the energy requirement could be a challenge in years to come. However, achieving the energy goals will become much easier with more emphasis from the Indian government and corporate world on renewable energy sources especially on solar power plants. Cement industry in India is playing a major role in utilizing renewable energy sources.  There are many favorable factors for installing the solar power plant in cement industry such as reduction in installation cost of solar plant, increasing fuel cost, Indirect effect on PAT as the RE power is out of boundary limit, possibility for selling E-Certificate if the reduction target is fulfilled and finally but not the least, solar power will be profitable business in years to come.

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