-
Categories
-
Pharmaceutical Intermediates
-
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients
-
Food Additives
- Industrial Coatings
- Agrochemicals
- Dyes and Pigments
- Surfactant
- Flavors and Fragrances
- Chemical Reagents
- Catalyst and Auxiliary
- Natural Products
- Inorganic Chemistry
-
Organic Chemistry
-
Biochemical Engineering
- Analytical Chemistry
-
Cosmetic Ingredient
- Water Treatment Chemical
-
Pharmaceutical Intermediates
Promotion
ECHEMI Mall
Wholesale
Weekly Price
Exhibition
News
-
Trade Service
Alcoa, the operator of Australia's 300,000-tonne Portland aluminium smelter, said it now has less than a third of its capacity and experienced a temporary power outage
three weeks ago.
The smelter was hit when a transmission line failure between Victoria and South Australia left two electrolyzers without power and cast doubt on
its long-term future.
Alcoa said: "The Aluminium plant has been operating
at less than 30% capacity since the failure of the Victoria transmission line on December 1, which was interrupted for more than five hours.
Alcoa said in May that it would continue to implement cost-saving measures at the Portland smelter, but its future could depend on its ability to
remain internationally competitive.
Rising electricity prices in recent years have exacerbated pressure on the plant, which has been plagued
by years of oversupply in the global aluminum market.
Australia has been considering having Clean Energy Finance Corp allocate funds to help build a new gas-fired power plant to power the Portland smelter or use wind power to power
the plant.
Alcoa Chairman Roy Harvey said the company is committed to continuing to work with
the Australian federal state government.
The closure of the Portland aluminium smelter could also affect Alcoa's refineries in Australia, which supply alumina to the Portland aluminium
smelter.
