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If they actually throttle them during peak usage aluminum plants should get a discount. Because much of the electrical part is more or less the equivalent of c

If they actually throttle them during peak usage aluminum plants should get a discount. Because much of the electrical part is more or less the equivalent of charging a shitty battery, it can be throttled really easily and being able to eat up extra capacity during low electrical usage is really environmentally friendly, as is aluminum as a material for making stuff being infinitely recyclable.

lostlogin 3y ago
> If they actually throttle them during peak usage aluminum plants should get a discount. Why? They could build their own power source. That said, I’d like a discount when my internet line speed drops below advertised due to everyone else using the internet.
- colechristensen 3y ago
  Efficient use of capital and resources. Idle power plants waste resources and make things more expensive. Consider every dollar spent as an interest baring loan. Spending money on a power plant not used wastes it and making everything more expensive. Scalable loads makes the return on investment for variable load renewables and constant load nuclear much better. The most expensive power are the peaker plants that have to run only a handful of hours per day. More scalable grid connected loads like aluminum processing makes building capacity and especially renewable capacity cheaper.
  - lostlogin 3y ago
    In the example here, the power plant was made to supply the smelter. The taxpayer built the plant for the smelter and now Rio Tinto are dictating the power price. The power plant can’t easily supply the National grid, as the lines aren’t there with sufficient capacity. The lines are being built but Rio Tinto have used these facts to get to a position where they are subsidised by the rest of the country. The power plant also has a finite life, and it’s passed its midpoint. Additionally, that smelter has also had government subsidies to stay open. I see no great loss in letting it die.

lostlogin 3y ago

> If they actually throttle them during peak usage aluminum plants should get a discount. Why? They could build their own power source. That said, I’d like a discount when my internet line speed drops below advertised due to everyone else using the internet.

colechristensen 3y ago
Efficient use of capital and resources. Idle power plants waste resources and make things more expensive. Consider every dollar spent as an interest baring loan. Spending money on a power plant not used wastes it and making everything more expensive. Scalable loads makes the return on investment for variable load renewables and constant load nuclear much better. The most expensive power are the peaker plants that have to run only a handful of hours per day. More scalable grid connected loads like aluminum processing makes building capacity and especially renewable capacity cheaper.
- lostlogin 3y ago
  In the example here, the power plant was made to supply the smelter. The taxpayer built the plant for the smelter and now Rio Tinto are dictating the power price. The power plant can’t easily supply the National grid, as the lines aren’t there with sufficient capacity. The lines are being built but Rio Tinto have used these facts to get to a position where they are subsidised by the rest of the country. The power plant also has a finite life, and it’s passed its midpoint. Additionally, that smelter has also had government subsidies to stay open. I see no great loss in letting it die.