Clean electricity: Cemex’s progress

Cemex, Mexico‘s leading cement company, reported that it operates with 33 percent clean electricity consumption in its cement plants.

By 2030, Cemex aims to more than double the current consumption of clean electricity in cement, to 65 percent.

This goal will require a combination of plant-specific solutions and clean energy procurement across Mexico, due to differences in the ability to generate clean electricity efficiently and cost-effectively, as well as differences in the local regulatory and economic environments near each plant.

Already, Cemex signed a 10-year agreement in 2022, beginning in 2023, to purchase clean electricity from ACCIONA Energía to cover about 30% of the electricity needed for Cemex’s cement operations in Spain.

Meanwhile, in Guatemala, the company signed an agreement with Enel Green Power starting in 2022 to supply 100% of Cemex’s electricity consumption with renewable energy for the next five years.

In Croatia, during 2022, Cemex began participating in the ZeEn renewable energy program of its supplier, HEP Opskrba.

All this is in addition to the agreements, reached by Cemex in 2020, to supply 100% renewable energy for its operations in Poland, thanks to PGE Obrót and three more years of its agreement with Engie to supply 100% renewable energy for the company’s operations in the United Kingdom.

Clean electricity

In addition, Cemex completed the construction of a power generation system based on waste heat recovered from hot clinker cooler exhaust gases at its Rudersdorf cement plant in Germany.

Advancing the use of clean electricity in Cemex’s cement operations complements the company’s ongoing efforts to increase energy efficiency and is a key effort to mitigate Scope 2 emissions and achieve its net-zero emissions ambition. It also makes good business sense, given that the price of clean electricity is stable and, in many markets, represents a savings versus the price of fossil fuel-fired generation.

According to the company, the medium-term outlook for the construction sector is promising, as fiscal stimulus in the form of infrastructure spending and climate action cascades through the U.S. and European economies.

Also, the redefinition of supply chains and nearshoning present significant opportunities.

In 2022, net sales grew 12% to $156 billion on a like-for-like basis due to price increases for its products and services in all regions where it operates.