Smelter boss pushes to get fourth potline back operating
“We very much want to turn line four on."
New Zealand Aluminium Smelters is “actively exploring” the prospect of re-opening the fourth potline at Tiwai Point.
It’s a move that would add 25 jobs and generate an estimated $100m in export revenue for Southland.
The fourth potline closed in early 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and has remained shut ever since.
NZAS CEO Chris Blenkiron has confirmed there are actively exploring opportunities to get the fourth potline back operating at Tiwai Point.
It would require an extra 50-plus megawatts of power, over and above what they have currently negotiated with the power suppliers.
“We very much want to turn line four on. We have a potline down at the smelter that is not currently operational. We want to find ways to bring about new generation to be built in this country to help us turn on line four,” Blenkiron said.
Blenkiron made the comment at a Murihiku Regeneration Energy, Innovation and Opportunities Expo in Invercargill on Tuesday.
Speakers at the event include Iwi leaders, Crown ministers, international ambassadors, and industry representatives.
Hokonui Rūnanga established Murihiku Regeneration on the back of the uncertainty surrounding the future of the NZAS Aluminium Smelter at Tiwai Point.
There were concerns about the impact the then-signalled closure would have on the Southland given it employs 1000 people on site and 2200 indirectly.
At the first Murihiku Regeneration Energy Expo held last year, before an energy deal was sorted, Blenkiron spoke about the smelter’s commitment to try to get a long-term power deal, to stand up new renewable energy, and they wanted to put a “significant demand response product into the market”.
“We’ve talked today about putting action on strategy and we have delivered on every single one of those things 18 months later,” Blenkiron said on Tuesday.
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It was announced in May this year that an energy supply deal had been reached for the smelter, and it will stay open until at least 2044.
“Kaiwera Downs 2 [Wind Farm] was announced five days after our [electricity] contract was signed. We underwrote that contract, effectively, by making that wind farm get up and about.
“That will bring another 150 megawatts into the market right here in Southland which is fantastic,” Blenkiron said.
“We are prepared to underwrite and support new energy developments for the betterment of getting projects up and about and we are actively now wanting to explore in the market how we can do that with the 50, 60, 70 megawatts that we need to turn on line four.
“So, we will start to talk to generators and new developers on what role we should play in bringing on new renewable energy in this country.”
As part of new electricity supply agreements for the smelter, that came into force in July, Meridian could request Tiwai ramp down energy usage to meet generation demands elsewhere.
By August Meridian Energy had already acted on that.
New Zealand Aluminium Smelter reduced its electricity usage by a total of 185 megawatts (MW) in early August.
Blenkiron said the 185 megawatts was effectively what was needed for an entire potline at the smelter.
The 185 megawatts represented approximately 4% of the country’s electricity use.
Tiwai then agreed to reduce electricity consumption by another 20 megawatts (MW) to further help New Zealand’s national grid.
The programme is not scheduled to get fully restored until mid-April.
“Once you take a potline down it takes about six months to get that thing fully back up and running.”
The Murihiku Regeneration Energy, Innovation and Opportunities Expo will continue at the Ascot Park Hotel in Invercargill on Wednesday.