After BMW now Mercedes Benz to sport solar aluminium as EGA agrees to supply CelestiAL to Hammerer Aluminium

According to a recent report, Emirates Global Aluminium has agreed on supplying CelestiAL solar aluminium to Mercedes-Benz parts maker Hammerer Aluminium Industries (HAI). The news came after the former, the world’s biggest premium aluminium producer, entered into a formal agreement with Hammerer.

Rob van Gils, Chief Executive Officer of Hammerer Aluminium Industries, said: “This partnership with EGA enables us to contribute to a better future and shows that aluminium has a key role to play in achieving the European Union’s Green Deal ambitions to decarbonise manufacturing. I am personally excited that many parts of the premium SUVs which are so popular in the UAE will be produced by HAI using EGA’s UAE-made CelestiAL solar aluminium. I look forward to driving these vehicles on the UAE’s sand dunes.”

EGA already supplies thousands of tonnes of aluminium to Hammerer Aluminum Industries each year, but now a proportion of this supply will switch to CelestiAL. 

CelestiAL aluminium is the world’s first commercially produced aluminium using the solar power through a partnership with Dubai Electricity and Water Authority. Now, EGA is mulling to increase the production of its CelestiAL aluminium through an initiative with Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, Dubal Holding and Emirates Water and Electricity Company, as the use of solar power significantly reduces the emissions associated with aluminium smelting.

With the expansion of the production of CelestiAL, EGA’s solar generation capacity is expected to surpass the total capacity in the UAE.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said: “The launch of EGA’s CelestiAL solar aluminium was a landmark in our industry’s drive to net zero. We expect to soon be able to increase production of CelestiAL, and meet more of the significant global demand for this innovative, low-carbon metal. We are proud that HAI, and their customers like Mercedes-Benz AG, will use aluminium made with the power of the UAE sun.”

Hammerer Aluminium Industries is a high-quality aluminium products supplier, employing around 1,900 people. Founded in 2007, the company is headquartered in Ranshofen, Upper Austria, with presence in eight other locations in Germany, Romania and Poland.

BMW Group was the first customer of EGA's CelestiAL Aluminium. In February 2021, an agreement was signed to supply 43,000 tonnes of CelestiAL aluminium to BMW Group per year. It was then estimated that by using solar aluminium, BMW Group would be able to cut 222,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.