Alcoa to Curtail Operations of Potline at Lista Smelter

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Alcoa Corporation announced its decision to curtail one third of its production capacity at its Lista smelter in Norway, in a bid to offset escalated energy costs at the site.

The smelter has three potlines, out of which a potline with capacity of approximately 31,000 metric tons will be curtailed. It must be noted that the combined annual nameplate capacity of the three potlines amounts to 94,000 metric tons per year. The curtailment process will commence immediately and is expected to be completed in almost two week time. The employees will remain to ensure an orderly shutdown and to be ready in the event of a restart in future.

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The site follows spot energy pricing. The prices have risen to levels above $600 per megawatt hour. The agreement with power utility Statkraft is expected to deliver significant improvement to the energy situation during the last quarter of the year. This will ensure more predictable energy prices not only during the remainder of the current year, but also during 2023.

Only a small percentage of the company’s global smelting portfolio is exposed to short-term markets, with Lista smelter being one among them.