by dbuckley » Sun 22 Jan 2006, 23:31:02
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('coyote', ' ')No, after Peak Oil electricity will not remain cheap for many years, let alone centuries.
The whole economics of aluminium production is predicated on (very) cheap electricity.
Here in NZ we have the Cromalco smelter, which runs on clean, green, 100% hydro generated electricity. The deal to get Cromalco here was done many years ago, when NZ was 100% hydro electricity.
Times change, of course, and now total renewables now make up 70% of our electricity, the rest being NG and coal. Comalco are looking fo another good long-term deal giving them cheap electricity, in a country (...world) that is facing increasing energy costs.
NZ is torn - we'd like to see the back of Cromalco, they use 15% of all our electricity, so getting that power back would make a big difference to our thermal generation needs. But losing Cromalco would mean the end of lots of jobs (effectively the dessimation of a region, a bit like what happened to mining villages in Wales), and loss of foreign income and tax.