Displaying items by tag: Power Plant
Semen Indonesia builds Tuban power plant
28 October 2014Indonesia: Semen Indonesia has commenced the construction of a 30.6MW waste heat recovery power generator (WHRPG) in an effort to reduce the company's electricity costs.
The facility will be located at Semen Indonesia's cement plant in Tuban, East Java and will cost US$52.9m. The power plant will make use of the heat generated from the cement plant. Construction is expected to take 26 months. Operations are expected to start in the second half of 2016.
In 2013, Semen Indonesia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japan's JFE Engineering Corporation for the WHRPG construction. "This will be the first project in Indonesia where waste heat in the whole area is utilised to supply the power plant," said Semen Indonesia president director Dwi Soetjipto. The company has applied similar technology at its Indarung facility in Padang, West Sumatra, on a smaller scale. Indarung power plant's capacity is 8.5MW and it started operation in 2011.
Once the power plant is completed, Semen Indonesia will be able to supply about one third of the company's energy needs at the Tuban plant. It could save US$9.95m/yr in electricity costs.
Eurocement orders 300MW power plants from Wärtsilä
23 September 2014Russia: Eurocement has signed a contract for more than Euro116.8m with Finnish power solutions company Wärtsilä for the supply of thermal power plants as part of its modernisation programme for reducing power costs. The total investments in the project will amount to Euro156m. The plants will have a combined capacity of over 300MW, which will meet 60% of the group's power needs and cut costs by 15 - 20%.
Chettinad Cement prepares for US$616m expansion plans
18 September 2014India: Chettinad Cement Corporation is moving forward with plans for projects in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka costing a total of US$616m.
The Indian cement producer is building a greenfield 3.5Mt/yr integrated cement plant in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh at a cost of US$181m. It is expanding its cement plant at Gulbarga in Karnataka to 5.75Mt/yr from 2.5Mt/yr and adding a 130MW captive thermal power plant at a cost of US$330m. It is also building two 2Mt/yr grinding plants and two 50MW thermal power plants at Solapur, Maharashtra at a cost of US$108m.
Chettinad Cement has received all the necessary clearances for its greenfield project in Andhra Pradesh and an expansion project in Karnataka, according to local media. The projects in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are expected to be operational within three years of the start of construction. The company has acquired 1000 acres for its proposed cement plant in Andhra Pradesh and 120 acres for its grinding plant in Maharashtra.
"In the last 20 years, the installed capacity of the cement units has increased from 1Mt/yr to 13.5Mt/yr. With the commissioning of new and expanded units, it is possible to scale up to 20Mt/yr,'' said Chettinad Cement Group Managing Director MAMR Muthiah.
Muthiah added that the company had a debt-equity ratio of 1:1. The upcoming projects will be financed through a combination of debt and internal accruals. Chettinad Cement is also considering expansion opportunities in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. At present, Chettinad Cement is currently operating at 50% of its production capacity due to 'sluggish' market conditions.
eRex to Invest US$164m in biomass power plant at Taiheyo Cement
16 September 2014Japan: eRex Inc, a power generation company, has agreed to invest US$159m in a biomass power project situated in the premises of Taiheyo Cement plant in Oita Prefecture, Japan. The total installed capacity of the power plant will be 50MW, sufficient to supply 100,000 households. The investment/MW will be US$3.18m. The power plant will use palm shells, a by-product of palm oil production in Indonesia and elsewhere, as its primary fuel. The company will set up a separate storage facility in Oita to hold 100,000t of palm shells. The power plant is expected to be operational in 2016.
Dangote invests US$250m in coal power plant
18 August 2014Nigeria: Dangote Group has invested US$250m in a coal-based power plant in its effort to provide an alternative source of power for is plants across the country to reduce the cost and difficulty accessing electricity.
Dangote Cement's Group CEO, Devakumar Edwin, said that the initiative will help the group in running its businesses in all parts of the country. He noted that the group has installed a 54MW coal power plant in Gboko, Benue State and is currently working towards installations at Ibeshe in Ogun state and Obajana in Kogi State. Edwin, who said that the group was currently importing coal from South Africa, revealed that it has started exploring coal opportunities in Nigeria, especially in Enugu State. It has also established a separate division for coal exploration.
Edwin noted that inadequate power supply due to Nigeria's low supply of gas has affected Dangote's cement production, while the cost aspect has also impacted on the economy and increased cost for consumers.
"In this country, the major issue is power," said Edwin. "Any economy will climb to double digits, once there is power at the right price. With affordable power people will produce products locally, will gravitate to the private sector, leading to the creation of a middle class and more employment in the country."
India: A new Inter-Ministerial Task Force (IMTF) has been constituted to undertake a comprehensive review of the existing coal resources and to consider feasibility for rationalisation of linkages.
The major recommendations of the IMTF include acceptance of the recommendations of Coal India Limited (CIL) to rationalise existing coal resources. CIL has received 31 applications for rationalisation, including eight from captive power plants, out of which it recommended rationalisation in seven cases. There were two applications from cement plants.
"The approved recommendations of the IMTF were sent to CIL," said Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal. "CIL and the coal companies have implemented the recommendations pertaining to rationalisation of coal resources to captive power plants, sponge iron and cement plants." With regard to the rationalisation of resources of power utilities, the IMTF's recommendations are all inter-linked and could be implemented only with the consent of all the consumers. However, the consumers concerned did not agree to the revised arrangement.
The government has also expedited environment and forest clearances and land acquisition processes to improve Indian coal production. According to Goyal, India does have adequate coal resources to meet demand. Steps have been taken by CIL and its subsidiaries to augment production, including capacity addition from new projects and the use of mass production technologies. As per official data, the total estimated quantum of coal resources in India is 301.56Bnt. Some 12.53Bnt of coal has been extracted between 1950 and 2013-2014, with 566Mt of that in 2013-2014 alone.
Saudi Arabia/Finland: Wärtsilä has received an order to supply a turnkey power plant for the Umm Al-Qura Cement Company. The 47MW captive power plant will be located close to Taif city. The equipment will be delivered by February 2015 and the project will enter commercial operation by October 2015.
The power plant consists of five 20-cylinder Wärtsilä 32TS engines, a new two-stage turbocharged version of the Wärtsilä 32 series. This new engine is designed to operate efficiently in high temperate and altitude conditions such as a location of this project with temperatures up to 50°C and an altitude above 1000m. After completion of this project, Wärtsilä will have supplied more than 1600MW of installed power plant capacity in Saudi Arabia.
Kenya: East Africa Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) is set to construct a US$9.13m power plant that is expected to reduce its annual power bill by about US$5.70m. The 4MW power plant will run on waste gases generated by the company's Athi River cement plant via waste heat recovery (WHR) system. Construction is scheduled to start in September 2014 and is expected to take one year.
"The new power plant will have a huge impact on our operational costs because its output will translate to about 40% of our current total energy requirements," said EAPCC's managing director Kephar Tande.
Around 20 - 25% of the project costs will be funded from internal savings with the rest of the funds coming from commercial loans. EAPCC also hopes to permanently address the problem of frequent power outages, which have posed major problems at its clinker plant. EAPCC currently consumes about 13MW of power supplied from the national grid to run its main installations, including a 1700t/day capacity kiln.
Tande said that the new power plant would help to stabilise the company's operations as it eyes expansion of its overall cement production capacity to 2Mt/yr by 2017 from the present 1.3Mt/yr. EAPCC plans to begin procurement for a new clinker plant near Bisil, Kajiado Country, Kenya in September 2014 at an estimated cost of US$171m. "We hope to conclude the feasibility study on the new clinker plant in Bisil by end of July 2014 and move to the next stage," said Tande.
Also on the cards is the construction of a second cement plant in the Nooleleshuani area of Kajiado County by 2016. The proposed plant site is next to the limestone-rich Maasai Plains, which are the major source of raw material for the five cement companies based in Athi River.
Kenya's power shortage has held back industrial expansion for decades despite the availability of huge energy reserves such as wind, coal and geothermal. The energy sector, though critical in uplifting the country's development, has registered slow growth due to the high initial capital requirements and inability to mobilise adequate financial resources to undertake large-scale investment.
Saudi Arabia: MAN Diesel & Turbo has received an order from the United Cement Industrial Company to build a 54.5MW captive power plant for a new 5000t/day cement plant located in the south of the country.
MAN Diesel & Turbo is building the power plant under an Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreement covering delivery of the engines and the erection of all essential ancillary equipment. A consortium partner is responsible for local deliveries and services. Construction of the plant is set to begin in late 2013, with delivery of the engines due to take place in mid-2014.
"We believe there is tremendous potential in the domain of local power plant solutions for independent energy generation in particular, for example for cement or steel works. The United Cement Industrial Company is a new client for us and one we have convinced with our technical concept," said Dr Rene Umlauft, CEO of MAN Diesel & Turbo.
India: The Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has signed an agreement with the Cement Corporation of India (CCI) to share the power from a 75MW power plant to be built at Bokajan in Karbi Anglong district in Assam. Fuel grade raw petroleum coke generated at the NRL after a capacity expansion will be used to generate power for the units with the surplus provided to the national grid.
"The proximity of the Bokajan (CCI) unit to the location of NRL's refinery provides the advantage of cheap rail transportation cost for both entities. This possible synergy will be economically favourable to both of the companies and will benefit the region as a whole," said NRL officials.