Alumetal installs solar panels to decarbonise aluminium recycling
Image: Hydro
The solar panels being installed at Alumetal‘s recycling plant in Kety, Poland, will generate 1,000MWh of electricity each year and are expected to be in operation during second quarter 2025.
“Power is an important input factor for the aluminium industry, and switching to renewable energy is critical to decarbonize our value chain. Even if aluminium recycling only requires five percent of the energy used to produce primary metal in a smelter, every step matters to get to net zero. The solar panels in Kety are yet another step in the right direction,” said Hanne Simensen, executive vice president in Hydro Aluminium Metal.
The €870,000 investment will help the plant switch parts of its energy supply to local, self-generated renewable energy. The project is in line with Hydro’s decarbonisation roadmap and commitment to a 30% reduction in the company’s carbon emissions by 2030, with a goal of achieving net-zero in scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2050.
The investment also includes a modernisation of the plant’s main security and electrical energy measurement system.
The 1,000MWh of electricity produced from renewable solar energy will meet 15% of the plant’s annual electricity needs, which is enough to power around 100 average European households for a year.
When the plant does not use all the electricity produced, the extra energy will flow into the local power grid, providing nearby homes, businesses and other facilities with clean energy.
“The solar panels at Kety are another important milestone for Alumetal and a key step in our decarbonization journey. The use of local, onsite energy production will increase energy efficiency, improve circularity at our plant and lower the carbon footprint of the final, recycled aluminium product we deliver to our customers,” commented Agnieszka Drzyżdżyk, CEO of Alumetal.
Hydro acquired Alumetal in 2023, and the new solar panels come on top of recent investments and sustainability efforts made in Alumetal.
A €20m modernization and investment project at the Kety plant, announced in August 2023, will be completed in the first half of 2025. The investment will increase the plant’s capacity by approximately 30,000 tonnes and provide safety and operational efficiency improvements.
On 4 November, Alumetal completed an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) to document the environmental footprint of its recycled foundry alloy aluminium products.