OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TITAN Cement Group joins decarbonization and electrification investment leaders Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Energy Impact Partners in supporting Rondo Energy (“Rondo”) through its recent Series A financing round. The round supports Rondo’s scale-up of its innovative “heat battery” technology, aiming to provide new solutions for decarbonizing power generation and heavy industry, including cement manufacturing.
The Rondo Heat Battery uses established industrial technologies to transform renewable electricity into heat at 98% efficiency, exhibiting high scalability potential that’s cost competitive to current energy storage methods. In addition to supplying heat at temperatures of up to 1,500°C, the modular battery can store renewable energy generated during off-peak hours, ensuring grid load flexibility and achieving additional greenhouse gas emissions savings.
Rondo will use the Series A funding to establish its first manufacturing lines, proceed with industrial demonstrations and develop services for both heavy industry and energy producers.
TITAN will work in a technological partnership with Rondo to develop new concepts for decarbonizing industrial production, including cement, combining its significant expertise on sustainable and digital manufacturing with Rondo’s unique innovation in industrial decarbonization. Both companies look forward to working together towards carbon neutrality in cement production and to playing a leading role in building the infrastructure of the future.
Rondo’s thermal energy storage technology is of particular importance to cement manufacturing in the roadmap towards carbon neutrality. As energy transfer can take place using kiln flue gases, the carbon-neutral, high temperature heat can be used to produce clinker, as well as for the thermal activation of minerals and by-products, alleviating a significant part of the emissions originating from fossil fuels burning.
Furthermore, the heat battery can become a critical component of novel energy-intensive processes for decarbonization, such as carbon capture, green hydrogen generation and conversion of captured CO2.
“With vital support from TITAN and our partners, Rondo will unlock the availability of low-cost, zero-carbon, high-temperature heat, together setting a new standard for industrial decarbonization in energy-intensive industries,” said John O’Donnell, CEO of Rondo Energy. “With TITAN’s deep industry knowledge and expertise, Rondo is now accelerating the deployment of our heat batteries to help reach carbon neutral building materials production that decarbonizes global construction supply chains. Our relationship will also increase Rondo’s manufacturing capacity, while reducing the carbon footprint of our own materials.”
“Combining our expertise in sustainable and digitized manufacturing and our entrepreneurial approach to innovation, with Rondo’s breakthrough technology and globally unique partner ecosystem, we are confident that we can play a leading role in building the infrastructure of the future and accelerating the roadmap towards carbon neutrality of the construction value chain,” said Fokion Tasoulas, Group Innovation & Technology Director of TITAN. “We look forward to working with Rondo to bring our vision to reality.”
About TITAN Cement
TITAN Cement Group is a multiregional cement and building materials producer. Business activities cover the production, transportation and distribution of cement, concrete, aggregates, fly ash, mortars and other building materials. The Group employs about 5,400 people and is present in more than 15 countries, operating cement plants in 10 of them, the USA, Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Egypt, Turkey and Brazil. Throughout its history the Group has aspired to serve the needs of society while contributing to sustainable growth with responsibility and integrity. For more information, visit the Group’s website at www.titan-cement.com.
About Rondo Energy
Rondo Energy makes industrial decarbonization possible — and profitable — today. The Rondo Heat Battery captures low-cost renewable electricity and delivers continuous high-temperature heat, enabling customers to power their operations with zero-carbon energy. Learn more at rondo.com.
