CEMENT INDUSTRY PREFERENCES FOR CAPTIVE POWER PLANTS IN PERSPECTIVE OF CURRENT ENERGY CRISES OF PAKISTAN

In the current wake of energy deficiency, it is pretty reasonable for the senior management of Pakistan Cement Industry to look for non-conventional sources for electricity generation. Comparative study of captive power plant (CPP) options may help the top management in decision making and highlight the industry preferences for installation of new CPPs. This paper presents an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) based multidimensional approach to select the CPP s for cement industry and to prioritize the factors affecting this selection. The CPP s shortlisted for this analysis include; Coal Fired CPP (CF-CPP), Refuse Derived Fuel CPP (RDF-CPP) and Waste Heat Recovery CPP (WHR-CPP). The AHP routines are modelled in commercially available AHP software. Data specific models are solved using the data collected from top management of different cement plants in Pakistan. The quantitative data for alternative power plants with respect to each criterion has been collected from different data bases. AHP results show that Pakistan cement industry has a strong demand for non-conventional CPP s and the top management is giving high priority to factors like Automation and Performance while installing the CPP s. Management is not much sensitive about the associated initial costs. The paper concludes with a ranking list in which WHR-CPP is at the top while RDF-CPP and CF-CPP are at the second and third place respectively. The results may help the policy makers of international CPP manufacturing firms and national cement industries in their future strategic decisions.