Southeast Asia's first heat
battery – the world's first commercial heat battery at a cement
plant – opens the path to simple, low-cost industrial
decarbonization.
ALAMEDA,
Calif. and BANGKOK,
May 16,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Rondo Energy, and SCG
Cleanergy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Siam Cement Group (SCG),
announced that the companies have begun construction of a Rondo
Heat Battery (RHB) in Thailand.
Rondo Heat Batteries capture intermittent electricity, store
energy as high temperature heat in brick, and deliver continuous
industrial heat and power on demand. This installation will convert
local solar power into continuous zero-carbon heat and power for
SCG's cement plant in Saraburi Province, Thailand.
"Rondo is building this century's industrial infrastructure,
harnessing the wind and the sun to power the world's factories,"
said Rondo CEO John O'Donnell.
"We're building deep partnerships with industrial giants to tackle
their greatest challenges and to deliver at scale. We've
already established gigascale production capacity with SCG, and
we're thrilled to be working now with SCG Cleanergy to address a
major global need: cement decarbonization."
SCG Cleanergy is a leading clean energy investor and developer
in Southeast Asia, with capacity
in operation and in pipeline over 550 MW in Thailand. In 2023, SCG Cleanergy's parent
company SCG announced plans to expand the production capacity of
Rondo Heat Battery storage to 90 GWh per year at SCG's
facility.
"We at SCG Cleanergy are deeply focused on implementing advanced
green energy technology to provide efficient decarbonization
solutions for the industrial sector," said SCG Cleanergy CEO
Attapong Sathitmanothum. "SCG Cleanergy brings together SCG's
delivery capacity and industrial expertise with the drive to serve
the world's fastest-growing energy market: clean industrial energy
in Southeast Asia."
Industrial energy demand in Southeast
Asia is growing more than 10% annually, according to the
International Trade Association. In 2023, Thailand requested "U.S. carbon-capture,
smart grid, and energy storage technologies and solutions to
achieve Thailand's climate
ambition" including methods of mitigation emissions from cement
production. Clean industrial heat powered by renewables will allow
Thailand and the larger
Southeast Asia region to
decarbonize manufacturing without raising the cost of basic
goods.
"Electrification of cement production requires a large-scale and
low-cost energy storage solution, as renewables are not available
24/7 but cement production needs to be," said Rondo's President
Eric Trusiewicz. "Rondo has brought
to market the world's first scalable, low-cost, high temperature
thermal energy storage solution, and this project is the first step
of getting this technology to wider deployment in cement and in the
developing world, where 90% of cement is produced and consumed.
Hard-to-decarbonize sectors like cement and steel will need to move
away from fossil fuels globally and begin using renewable
electricity to get us to net zero by 2050."
Rondo is the leading provider of zero-carbon industrial heat and
power, making deep industrial decarbonization both possible and
profitable. Rondo not only helps replace fossil fuels for some of
the most challenging sectors to decarbonize, but its technology can
also help stabilize the grid by adding a highly flexible
electricity demand that can soak up renewable power when it's
abundant. Rondo Heat Batteries are proven at scale to enable
low-cost heat and power for customers, all from intermittent
renewable electricity.
"Rondo's solution has broad applicability across various
industry segments and customer types, and it is great to see that
they are now expanding into new geographies as well," said Olivia
Oo, Head of APAC, Partnerships at Breakthrough Energy. "We believe
that this partnership marks not only Rondo's first installation in
Southeast Asia, but will also pave
the way for many more opportunities to drive decarbonization in a
growing and rapidly expanding region."
Today, 15% of global CO2 emissions are produced by industrial
heat, and repowering industrial heat with clean energy is one of
the greatest business opportunities of our time. A recent study
by SystemIQ on industrial heat found that heat batteries
could reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, while reducing
costs and emissions in the electricity system and cutting fossil
gas combustion by as much as 40%.
About Siam Cement Group ("SCG")
SCG, one of ASEAN's
leading conglomerates, operates business in compliance with ESG
principles and sustainable development goals in the economy,
society, and environment underpinned by good governance. SCG
comprises three core businesses: Cement-Building Materials
Business, Chemicals Business, and Packaging Business. SCG strives
to respond to our customer's diverse needs through collaborative
partnership cultivation and innovative products, services and
solutions development.
About SCG Cleanergy
SCG Cleanergy, a wholly owned
subsidiary of SCG, was established to provide power solutions from
renewable energy including solar and wind energy in Thailand and ASEAN region and beyond.
More about Rondo's solution
Rondo is purpose-built for
industrial facilities: its Heat Batteries are constructed from
proven, durable materials and are designed for seamless integration
with existing industrial equipment and processes. Whether deployed
as a drop-in replacement for retiring fossil-fueled heating
equipment or as a resilient complement to existing systems, Rondo
requires no disruptive changes to customers' operations.
Rondo currently operates the world's highest temperature,
highest efficiency commercial energy storage system, at Calgren
Renewable Fuels in Pixley,
California. Working with its partner Siam Cement Group
(SCG), Rondo is expanding the production capacity of its storage
media from its current 2 GWh/yr to an industry-leading 90 GWh per
year.
This clean source of low-cost heat creates and maintains local
jobs, making local industries more competitive and improving air
quality. Rondo Heat Batteries are a zero-combustion technology
that, unlike a gas-fired boiler, emits zero NOx, SOx, or
Particulate Matter (PM) that worsens local air quality and harms
community health.
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SOURCE Rondo Energy