Waste-heat power (steam Rankine): Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
These systems pair a waste-heat boiler with a steam turbine and generator, priced as engineering projects. The proxy is the US turbine and generator index. Their value is the grid power they replace, so tariffs and output at cement and steel plants drive demand.
Proxy US PPI: steam, gas and other turbines and generators index · monthly, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026There is no free public price for waste-heat power (steam rankine) itself, so this tab uses the closest public series as a stand-in. Read the numbers as an indication, not as the price of this exact item.
What its price moves with
Selected linkWaste-heat power (steam Rankine) and Cement
Monthly changes 0.01 little or none correlation 12-month changes -0.08 little or none correlation Last 5 years -0.26 monthly changes Lead or lag none No clear lead or lag Price function, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026 Waste-heat power (steam Rankine) ≈ 14.6 × (Cement)0.41 R² 0.51 On this fit, a 10% higher cement price goes with a 4.0% higher waste-heat power (steam rankine) price over the long run. Units: index and index, BLS base period.Chart: Waste-heat power (steam Rankine) and Cement prices rebased to 100 at Jan 2006, log scale
Both prices rebased to 100 at Jan 2006, on a log scale so equal percentage moves look the same size.Chart: Waste-heat power (steam Rankine) price against Cement price, monthly, log scales, with fitted line
Each dot is one month; paler dots are older (2006), darker dots recent (2026); the ringed dot is the latest month. The dashed line is the fitted price function. Both axes are logarithmic.Cement kilns are the largest users of steam waste-heat power, especially in China and India, using hot exhaust from the kiln and clinker cooler. Monthly moves correlate at just 0.01 with the cement index, as equipment prices follow turbine makers, not cement markets.
little or none co-movement month to month · 234 months Show chartsSteelworks recover heat from sinter coolers and furnaces, and the boilers and turbines are themselves made of steel. Monthly moves correlate at 0.09 with the steel index, because turbine prices are fixed at order and change slowly.
little or none co-movement month to month · 234 months Show chartsBurning sulphur to make sulphuric acid releases a lot of heat, which acid plants routinely turn into steam and power. The link is a technology one; monthly moves correlate at 0.05, so prices do not move together.
little or none co-movement month to month · 210 months Show chartsThe heat recovery steam generator is a large exchanger that turns exhaust heat into steam. Monthly moves correlate at 0.21 with the heat exchanger index, a weak link from shared fabrication costs.
weak co-movement month to month · 234 months Show chartsWaste-heat power replaces electricity a plant would buy, so high industrial tariffs shorten payback. The equipment index shows no link with industrial power, at -0.02 monthly, as turbine prices follow the makers' order books.
little or none co-movement month to month · 234 months Show chartsGeothermal plants use similar steam turbines, and their proxy is a closely related turbine index. Monthly moves correlate at 0.68, mostly because both indices cover overlapping products from the same makers.
moderate co-movement month to month · 169 months Show chartsHow to read these numbers
Correlation of monthly changes (the number in the coloured pill) compares how much each price moved, month by month, since 2006 or the first month both series exist. It runs from −1 to +1: near +1 the two usually rise and fall in the same months, near 0 there is no link, and a negative number means they tend to move in opposite directions. Above 0.7 is strong, 0.4 to 0.7 moderate, 0.2 to 0.4 weak.
12-month changes compare year-on-year moves, which shows whether two prices share the same cycles even when the month-to-month noise differs.
Price function is a straight-line fit of the two prices on logarithmic scales: price ≈ k × (partner price)β. β is how much this price moves, in per cent, for a 1% move in the partner over the whole period, and R² is the share of the variation the fit explains. Two prices that both drift up with inflation can fit well without any real link, so read it together with the monthly correlation.
Lead or lag checks whether the monthly correlation is clearly higher when one price is shifted by 1 to 6 months.
Correlation is not cause. The reasons on each card explain the economic link; the numbers show how strongly it has shown up in prices. Proxy series are US producer price indexes or related prices and can blur the real link.
Data: World Bank Commodity Price Data (Pink Sheet), October 2026; US Bureau of Labor Statistics producer price indexes, IMF primary commodity prices and US EIA prices via FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, retrieved November 2026. Calculations by this site.