Portland aluminium smelter

The Portland aluminum smelter with an annual capacity of 345,000 tons of aluminum is located in Portland, Victoria, Australia. The aluminum smelter is a joint venture between Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals with a share of 55 % (of which 60 % by Alcoa and 40% by Alumina Limited), Chinese CITIC with 22.5 % and Japanese Marubeni with 22.5 %. Hut operators is the Alumina Limited.

The aluminum smelter was built from 1986 to 1988. It consists of two Alcoa A817 cells for fusion electrolysis retrieve a current capacity of 310 kilo amperes. Portland is the only aluminum smelter, which applies this technology. Alumina is biweekly delivered from Western Australia by boat, The Portland. The alumina is transported from the port on a closed conveyor belt several kilometers to the hut. Most of the aluminum ingots produced are transported by truck from Portland to other ports, although some are transported by ship directly from the port of Portland.

The aluminum smelter was the occasion of a big controversy in 1986. 1984 a contract for a joint venture to build the smelter was closed under the government of John Cain of the ALP, in which the government a power supply to the year 2016 promised and the current delivery price at the world market price for aluminum coupled. This agreement meant that the current cost of the aluminum smelter stood at AUD 14 per megawatt hour ( 1.4 cents / kWh ) and thus to determine the costs of the state of Victoria with more than AUD 2 billion over the contract period of 20 years were.

The power consumption of the Portland aluminum smelter is 18 to 25 percent of total electricity generation in Victoria, and since the majority of the current energy should be obtained from the lignite-fired power plant in the Latrobe Valley, this also meant that the aluminum production, the main cause of emissions of greenhouse gases from Victoria is.

In March 2010 it was announced that the operator of the Loy Yang power station have signed a power purchase agreement for both aluminum smelters with a term until the year 2036. The current contracts expire in 2014.