Portland aluminium smelter to become country’s first smelter to run on renewable energy

Alinta Energy, an Australian energy business, has announced intentions to develop a 1GW wind farm 10 kilometres off the coast of Portland, Victoria. The project would make the Portland aluminium smelter one of the country's first to run entirely on renewable energy. It will provide energy to the Portland Aluminium Smelter as well as to the east coast electricity grid.

Alinta announced on Tuesday that the Spinifex offshore wind project will cost up to $4 billion and would create new construction and operational jobs, as well as assist safeguard jobs at the smelting site. Before finalising the $4 billion project, wind monitoring, site assessments, investment and consultations are planned to take place next year.

“The area we’re investigating is around 500km and about ten kilometres from the shoreline, and the great thing about this proposal is that we can connect to the grid via the smelter and won’t need to build new power lines on private land,” said Kris Lynch, Alinta Energy’s head of project development.

To be profitable, he added, the project would need to be approximately 1GW, and that early interactions with stakeholders would be crucial in guiding the company's plans. At this time, no information on project characteristics such as wind turbine size, quantity, or exact location is available. Spinifex is planned to begin commercial operations around 2030 if everything goes well.

The idea, according to Portland Aluminium Smelter manager Ron Jorgensen, is perfectly consistent with the aluminium industry's decarbonization strategy. The smelter is one of Victoria's biggest power consumers, accounting for around 10 percent of the state's overall energy use.

The Australian government enacted legislation this month that allows offshore wind farms to be built beyond 5.5 kilometres from the coast in Commonwealth seas. The projected Spinifex development is thought to be located outside the Commonwealth and state-protected waterways.

According to Windpower Intelligence, the statistics and research arm of Windpower Monthly, Australia has a pipeline of 11.5GW of potential offshore wind projects, the majority of which are still in the planning phases. The Star of the South project, which is set to be Australia's first offshore wind farm, is set to be built off the coast of Gippsland in Victoria. Last month, the Victorian government contributed $19.5 million to help pre-construction activities like as site studies and offshore geotechnical work.