Displaying items by tag: Electricity

France: Lafarge France has signed a nuclear production allocation contract (CAPN) with EDF to secure a long-term supply of low-carbon electricity for its cement plants. The deal allocates part of the capacity from EDF’s operating nuclear fleet to Lafarge France for more than 10 years under a cost and risk-sharing mechanism tied to actual volumes produced.

The partnership aims to cover part of the electricity consumption of Lafarge’s most energy-intensive sites in France, reducing the company’s carbon footprint while ensuring competitiveness and local presence, according to EDF.

Xavier Guesnu, CEO of Lafarge France, said “At Lafarge, we are already activating all levers to reduce the carbon footprint of cement, from research and development to the industrialisation of new low-carbon products and the use of alternative energies, such as biomass. This partnership gives us visibility and access to decarbonised energy, which are essential elements for continuing our investments aimed at large-scale production of very low-carbon or even carbon-neutral cements.”

Greece: Heracles Group, a member of Holcim, has commissioned a 6.5MW solar power station at its Milaki plant, equipped with more than 11,000 panels. The facility is now fully operational.

The installation is expected to generate about 10,000MW/yr of electricity, covering a significant share of the plant’s energy needs and cutting CO₂ emissions by 2350t/yr.

Türkiye: Limak Çimento will expand the solar power plant under construction in Kurtalan, Siirt, to meet the electricity demands of its cement plant, according to Energy Diary. The project, divided into five units, will increase its capacity from 9.91MW to 15.9MW with the addition of 6MW. The project site will increase from 109,000m² to 241,000m². The expansion will reportedly employ 10 people during construction and five in the operation phase.

Ukraine: Cement producers have warned of consequences for the industry due to a 67% rise in the marginal price of electricity, according to Lyudmila Krypka, executive director of Ukrcement. Due to high tariffs, the industry is reportedly only operating at 60-70% of capacity.

Krypka said “Export for us is a matter of survival.”

She said that the increase was unjustified and wartime conditions with limited energy market competition created additional risks. Ukrainian industry receives no compensation for energy costs, unlike in the EU. Ukrcement has proposed preferential electricity transmission tariffs for energy-intensive industries and technical and economic criteria for priority enterprises.

Norway: thyssenkrupp Polysius will supply the kiln system for SMA Mineral’s quicklime plant, designed to operate without CO₂ emissions using SaltX’s electric calcination technology. The pilot facility is scheduled for completion in 2027, and will produce 40,000t/yr of quicklime. The project has received €24m in funding from Norwegian state enterprise Enova.

thyssenkrupp Polysius CEO Christian Myland said “We are proud to contribute to this landmark project that sets a new standard for sustainable lime production. Our collaboration with SMA Mineral and SaltX Technology demonstrates how industrial partnerships can accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions. This project is a testament to our commitment to engineering solutions that drive decarbonisation.”

The partnership between SaltX Technology and thyssenkrupp Polysius follows the signing of a Letter of Intent in February 2025.

Sweden: SaltX has announced a partnership with Holcim to develop technology and solutions that electrify and enable the decarbonisation of the entire cement manufacturing process. As part of the partnership, Holcim is becoming a strategic shareholder in SaltX through an investment of approximately US$4m. 

The companies intend to co-develop and advance SaltX’s electrification technology for calcination, including the production of Portland cement clinker. The goal is to be the first in the world to establish a scalable plant concept for fully electrified cement facilities. The parties’ intention is for the partnership to be extensive, featuring a collaborative go-to-market and scale-up plan. The initial focus is on developing the world’s first all-electric pilot plant for emission-free cement production. This will set the foundation to establish multiple large-scale production facilities based on SaltX’s electrification technology.  

Ukraine: Renewable energy company Elementum Energy and Ukraine-based cement producer CEMARK, part of CRH, signed a one-year financial power purchase agreement to stabilise electricity prices, supplied from the 100MW Dniester Wind Farm to one of CEMARK’s plants.

It is the second such agreement signed by Elementum Energy, following a pilot deal in January 2025. CEMARK energy resources procurement manager Maryna Boyaryntseva said electricity costs are “one of the key components in the cost of cement and require constant attention and the introduction of new tools to influence price formation.”

Elementum Energy said one- to two-year price stabilisation tools are attractive to businesses in wartime, because they allow for a cost forecast and risk reduction without committing to a longer-term contract.

India: During the fourth quarter of the 2025 financial year (which ended on 31 March 2025), premium products constituted 16% of Shree Cement’s sales mix, up from 12% one year previously. During the period, the company further diversified its offering with the launch of two new premium cements, Bangur Marble Portland slag cement and Extra White Portland slag cement, in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Both products are designed for maximum brightness and smoothness within their category of CEM-II Portland slag cements. The company says that its growing portfolio helped it to increase its full-year financial realisation per tonne by 5% year-on-year.

Business Today News has reported that managing director Neeraj Akhoury said "In the 2025 financial year, 74% of our cement output was blended, avoiding over 7.2Mt of CO₂ emissions."

Shree Cement crossed 60% consumption of energy from renewable sources in May 2025, Construction World News has reported. It has 582MW of installed renewable power capacity and is currently in the process of building a 1MW battery storage system at one of its cement plants in India.

Peru: Cemento Yura, a subsidiary of Grupo Gloria, has launched a 28MW photovoltaic plant, the first in the Peruvian cement sector, according to M-Brain News.

The 45-hectare facility consists of 51,264 photovoltaic modules and will generate 80.65GW/yr of electricity, covering around 30% of the Yura cement plant’s energy needs. The project cost US$23.5m.

Iran: Cement and steel producers will suspend production for 15 days from 15 May 2025 under a government order to conserve electricity, according to local press reports.

The Iranian Interior Ministry instructed regional power companies to cut supply to large manufacturers, limiting their electricity consumption to 10% of usual demand, according to Tejarat News. The measure aims to reduce industrial consumption amid rising electricity use in the household sector for cooling during ongoing hot weather. The Iranian Energy Ministry said that power availability will increase from mid-June 2025, following the completion of power plant repairs.