Cement companies keen to save power cost

Mumbai: Major cement companies will invest up to Rs1,700 crore in two fiscal years ending March 2022 to set up 175 MW of waste heat recovery system (WHRS) capacities for saving power cost, an Icra report said on Wednesday.

It takes an investment of up to Rs 8-10 crore to set up one MW WHRS, and the overall cost for the 175 MW for FY21 and FY22 will come at Rs 1,400-1,700 crore, it said. The agency said domestic cement companies in recent years have been investing in alternative or renewable energy sources, replacing known sources such as fuel in the form of coal as well as thermal power generation which has afforded the players multiple benefits apart from reducing carbon dioxide footprint.

The usage of renewable sources of energy such as solar energy, wind energy and WHRS has been gaining momentum, in particular the latter has emerged as one of the cheapest sources of power generation given the negligible input costs, it said.

Cement manufacturing is an energy intensive process and power and fuel accounts for 25-28 percent of the overall costs for a cement company, it said. "By generating power using the hot gases produced during the manufacturing process, WHRS is more cost efficient and helps in augmenting the operating profitability," its sector head for corporate ratings Anupama Reddy said.