Second-Largest U.S. Aluminum Mill Idles Due to ‘Untenable’ Energy Prices, Laying Off 600 American Wo

[mystery-ak]

Second-Largest U.S. Aluminum Mill Idles Due to ‘Untenable’ Energy Prices, Laying Off 600 American Workers

John Binder 10 Aug 2022

The second largest aluminum mill in the United States has idled operations, laying off about 600 American workers, due to “untenable” electricity and energy prices.

In June, Century Aluminum Co. executives announced that they would idle the Hawesville, Kentucky aluminum mill for about 9 to 12 months as a result of skyrocketing prices to merely keep the plant’s lights on.

Similarly, executives with two steel mills are suspending operations because they cannot afford the costs of energy to keep the plants open. This comes after executives warned federal regulators about debilitating energy prices months ago.

Bloomberg reported:

    On June 22, 600 workers at the second-largest aluminum mill in America, accounting for 20% of US supply, learned they were losing their jobs because the plant can’t afford an electricity tab that’s tripled in a matter of months. Century Aluminum Co. says it’ll idle the Hawesville, Kentucky, mill for as long as a year, taking out the biggest of its three US sites. A shutdown like this can take a month as workers carefully swirl the molten metal into storage so it doesn’t solidify in pipes and vessels and turn the entire facility into a useless brick. Restarting takes another six to nine months. For this reason, owners don’t halt operations unless they’ve exhausted all other options.

    …

    At least two steel mills have begun suspending some operations to cut energy costs, according to one industry executive, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. In May, a group of factories across the US Midwest warned federal energy regulators that some were on the verge of closing for the summer or longer because of what they described as “unjust and unreasonable” electricity costs. They asked to be wholly absolved of some power fees—a request that, if granted, would be unprecedented.

more
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/08/10/energy-costs-aluminum-mill/

[Hoodat]

Biden's 'Build Back Better'

[DefiantMassRINO]

Century Aluminum Co., Hawesville, Kentucky ... that's Mitch McConnell's backyard.

Windmills and solar panels cannot replace the affordability, efficiency, capacity, reliability, and predictability of traditional domestic sources of power, such as nuclear, coal, and natural gas.

Let's see what happens if we have a cold winter.

[Kamaji]

Good job, Joe!

FJB!

[Hoodat]

Aluminum refining requires A LOT of electricity.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

It's a 'Woke' aluminum company.  It is after zero emissions(For an aluminum company??) and actually has its largest smelter in Iceland presumably to take advantage of geothermal energy.

Century Aluminum and Ocean GeoLoop Partner on Carbon Capture Technology to Help with Goal of Carbon Neutral Aluminum Production
Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ: CENX) announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Nordural Grundartangi ehf (“Nordural” or “Grundartangi”), signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with industrial green technology leader, Ocean GeoLoop, for carbon capture at the Grundartangi plant in Iceland. The project has an ambition to reduce Iceland’s carbon emission by approximately 10% by deploying Ocean GeoLoop’s carbon capture solution.

“We are proud to announce this agreement with Nordural, aiming to reduce carbon emissions significantly by deploying our disruptive carbon capture solution. The end-of-pipe technology is planned to be assisted by the e-Loop, a horizontal hydropower unit, enabling electricity production utilizing the CO2 from the aluminum process resulting in a self-energized carbon capture solution at Nordural,” says Odd-Geir Lademo, CEO at Ocean GeoLoop.

Ocean GeoLoop develops, pilots, and commercializes multifunctional environmental technologies for carbon capture, utilization, and storage. The GeoLoop carbon capture solution is characterized by several unique capabilities, as the CO2 separation is 100% clean, can capture 100% of the CO2, and has no need for special adaptations based on the type of flue gas. The carbon capture process is expected to be assisted by the e-Loop, a proprietary, horizontal hydropower unit, enabling electricity production from low quality heat sources.

Nordural produces Natur-Al™ aluminum with one of the lowest CO₂ footprints in the world. With OGL, Nordural has the ambition to become a carbon neutral aluminum producer.

“We are excited at the prospect of being able to capture, use and store the CO2 that our plant emits now. We are already far ahead of the curve in terms of carbon footprint, as all our electricity is renewable, but a successful carbon capture scheme would bring us to true carbon neutrality,” says Gunnar Guðlaugsson, CEO of Nordural.
https://centuryaluminum.com/investors/press-releases/press-release-details/2022/Century-Aluminum-and-Ocean-GeoLoop-Partner-on-Carbon-Capture-Technology-to-Help-with-Goal-of-Carbon-Neutral-Aluminum-Production/default.aspx

[Smokin Joe]

Aluminum refining requires A LOT of electricity.

Yes, it does. I wonder how that compares to lithium refining...