“Transitioning to a low carbon economy presents a real opportunity for industrial regions if stakeholders are willing to both think differently and collaborate,” said Mr Vella.
“As Queensland’s largest energy user and a major Gladstone employer and manufacturer, Rio Tinto is uniquely positioned to work with the Queensland Government to deliver this vision.“
Rio already owns 42.1 per cent of a coal-fired power station at Gladstone and could yet take equity in clean energy projects in the region under the new strategy.
Powered by renewables
”We have been in the region for more than 50 years, and we share the state government’s goals for decarbonisation, job creation and a vibrant industrial future for the region,” said Mr Vella.
“We are working closely with the Queensland government on the role we can play by underwriting long-term green off-take for our industrial assets. This should help create the industrial demand needed to develop a globally competitive green energy solution and lead to more processing and manufacturing in Central Queensland.”
The symbolic pact comes just days after rival miner Fortescue pledged $114 million towards a green energy manufacturing facility at Gladstone, which is expected to build the electrolysers that can separate the hydrogen and oxygen atoms in water.
It also comes after the independent management team at the Tomago smelter in NSW, which is 52 per cent owned by Rio, declared their intention to be predominantly powered by renewables by 2029.
Rio owns 59 per cent of Boyne, 79 per cent of New Zealand’s Tiwai Point smelter and wholly owns the Bell Bay smelter in Tasmania.
Rio’s more patient approach comes as high power prices threaten to knock out rivals in other parts of the world, with Dutch company Aldel vowing to curtail aluminium production by up to 70 per cent until at least early 2022.
Morgan Stanley analyst Amy Sergeant estimated that Aldel delivered about 2 per cent of European aluminium production when running at full speed.
“Headlines continue to point to a tightening aluminium market into year-end,” she said in a note to clients.
Power rationing has already forced some Chinese smelters to curtail production and the province of Qinghai, which produces close to 4 per cent of global aluminium according to Morgan Stanley, is expected to follow suit in coming weeks and reduce output on the back of power rationing.
Morgan Stanley said India, which produces about 6 per cent of global aluminium supplies, could also be forced to curtail smelters because of a coal shortage.
The average price of aluminium on the London Metals Exchange was between $US1700 and $US1800 per tonne in both 2019 and 2020 but was above $US3000 per tonne during Monday evening’s trading session in London.
Rio Tinto patient as energy crisis buoys local smelters - The Australian Financial Review
Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment