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Rio Tinto Alcan's cutting edge Straumsvik (ISAL) smelter in Iceland is a multi-million dollar facility that has placed great emphasis on sustainability and environmental considerations. Emissions per tonne of aluminium produced have decreased by approximately 75% due largely to ISAL's aggressive targeting of perfluorcarbons
In June 2012, the first aluminium billet was produced at Rio Tinto Alcan's (RTA) new leading-edge casting facility at its smelter in Straumsvik, Iceland (ISAL). The US$140 million facility is in addition to a US$347 million investment RTA is making to modernise and increase the ISAL smelter's capacity by 20%. The total investment is the largest of its kind to be made in Iceland since the 2008 financial crisis and Rio
Tinto Alcan's biggest investment in Europe in the last 15 years. The ISAL investment project is part of the company's strategy of developing its toptier assets and of being a stable supplier of high quality billet. Leveraging ISAL's renowned clean energy source in hydro power, low CO2 emissions and strong performance on health, safety and the environment, the investment is testament to RTAs uncompromising commitment to a sustainable future.
As green as energy gets
Because of Iceland's abundant hydro and geothermal energy resources, some 85% of all primary energy used in the country is renewable and locally produced. The history of ISAL is strongly linked to Iceland's harnessing of its renewable energy resource, as the first major hydroelectric power plant in the country was built specifically to power the ISAL smelter more than 40 years ago.
ISAL uses close to 3,000 gWh of electricity per year, or 1 7% per cent of the electricity used in Iceland. It is critically important that it sources electrical power produced through hydro energy, which causes negligible CO2 emissions, to minimise the carbon footprint of its aluminium production.
Rio Tinto Alcan's investment project to produce value-added billet at ISAL was facilitated after the smelter reached a landmark energy supply agreement with Landsvirkjun, the Icelandic national power utility. The new contract took effect on...