Smelter threatens closure over Govt's carbon scheme (NZ)

[phantom power]

15% of New Zealand's electricity.

The owners of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter near Invercargill are threatening to close – which would put thousands of Kiwis out of work – and they are blaming the Government's costly carbon emissions trading scheme.

The Asia Pacific head of owners Rio Tinto flew from Europe to Parliament today – to tell MPs if the bill is passed in its current form, the company will start the "path to closure".

(...)

The Tiwai Point aluminium smelter is the biggest electricity user in the country, and the average wage of a worker here is $87,000 a year – its total annual wage bill is $78 million.

(...)

It uses 15 percent of the country's electricity, all supplied at a cut rate price. But it also generates $3.7 billion a year for the economy.

http://www.tv3.co.nz/SmelterthreatensclosureoverGovtscarbonscheme/tabid/209/articleID/55508/cat/87/Default.aspx

[Dead_Parrot]

1. 15% of not much, though

You could run the whole NZ grid off the Grand Coulee with 2GW left over. Since Comalco already get a fixed price for power, I imagine they'll just fix it more.