Technology Roadmap Low-Carbon Transition in the Cement Industry

Renewable power generation
The cement sector can support the reduction 
of carbon emissions from electricity production 
by improving the uptake of renewable power 
generation, given the appropriate economic 
conditions. This can be achieved through different 
strategies including implementing renewable-
based captive power generation, power purchase 
agreements that ensure electricity imports are 
provided from renewable sources or demand-side 
response strategies that enable a flexible electricity 
demand (e.g. a flexible operating strategy of 
grinding plants throughout the day). 
Various renewable-based options are available for 
cement manufacturers including wind power, solar 
photovoltaic power, solar thermal power and small 
hydropower generation. Potential deployment 
of these technologies in cement plants is highly 
dependent on local conditions such as the availability 
of local renewable sources, electricity prices, cement 
34. A cement plant in Germany first integrated ORCs in 1999, with 
several similar projects following on different continents. A few 
Kalina cycles are known to operate within cement plants, namely 
in Pakistan and United Arab Emirates (ECRA and CSI, 2017).
plant size and policy contexts. The current level of 
installed renewable-based captive power generation 
in the global cement sector is minor. 
However, recent developments are promising in 
countries such as India with 216 megawatts (MW) 
offsite installed wind capacity operated by cement 
companies, and 13 MW solar photovoltaic capacity 
installed within cement plants in 2014 (CII, WBCSD 
and IEA, forthcoming). A project that demonstrates 
the integration of solar thermal power with already 
existing EHR to power technology in a cement plant 
started in 2014 in Morocco. This was a sustainable 
solution for remote locations with good availability of 
renewable energy sources (Italcementi, 2015). Kalina 
cycles and ORCs represent a good technical solution 
for geothermal and solar energy recovery, as they 
operate with lower boiling point thermal fluids.