Cement production is one of the most energy-consuming industries in the world, and the grate cooler plays a vital role in cement quality and energy recovery. In this paper, a mass and thermal balance experiment of a 5000 t/d cement plant in China is performed to obtain the operating parameters and energy distribution. The experimental results indicate fuel combustion is the main source of energy due to the generation of about 74.8% of the total heat input energy of the system. In the output energy, the formation heat of clinker and the sensible heat of air account for 39.8% and 37.7%, respectively. The proportion of surface heat dissipation is not high, only 6.9%, mainly concentrated in the preheater and kiln shell. Furthermore, based on the experimental parameters, a novel two-equation energy model of the grate cooler is constructed, which shows higher accuracy due to the introduction of thermal dispersion and thermal radiation. The effects of different operating parameters on the heat transfer and energy recovery efficiency of the grate cooler are analyzed. On the premise of ensuring the quality and output of cement, the grate bed speed of 0.01 m/s is considered optimal.