With the tanks turned off due to the high electricity prices, Alcoa has committed to reactivating the San Cibrao plant in 2024. During that time, the aluminum multinational is trying to close bilateral contracts with the power companies to supply the plant with renewable energies and is also planning make different investments to improve the facilities. One of them will receive aid from the regional administration worth 985,000 euros so that it can improve energy efficiency.
The company plans to replace the fuel oil used in the smelter, the part of the plant where recycled aluminum is manufactured and which is still in operation, with natural gas. The total planned investment amounts to 3.4 million euros and the Ministry of Economy reported that it will contribute almost one million euros.
The objective of reducing initial consumption by about 3%, which means more than 4 million kWh per year. The project contemplates the connection with the gas pipeline, as well as the installation of a regulation and metering station for invoicing, distribution pipe, as well as elements for regulation, control and supervision of both the combustion equipment and the elaboration furnaces.
The president of the works council, José Antonio Zan, explained that the general director of Energy Planning, Paula Uría, had called him to report this aid, which he considers “good news”. Alcoa agreed with the workers for a total investment of 103 million euros in the San Cibrao plant. Thanks to the money that the Xunta puts in, there will be a million more “to spend on other investments that are necessary,” Zan pointed out.
Uría explained that the support is part of the Xunta line aimed at promoting energy efficiency and saving projects in both SMEs and large companies in the industrial sector. “In this way, the Autonomous Administration shows its commitment to maintaining industrial activity in Alcoa and its willingness to seek solutions that allow it to support the electro-intensive industry and maintain employment at a time of great difficulties,” says the Xunta in a release.
The general director blamed the impossibility of producing primary aluminum in Spain on the lack of involvement of the central government, in her opinion, for not giving answers and activating mechanisms that allow this industry to have a stable energy framework. “We have spent many months demanding a stable energy framework that allows Galician companies to be guaranteed an electricity price with which to compete on equal terms with the rest of the European countries,” said Uría.
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