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Do heavy industrial concerns with high power usage not already usually have an on-site gas or oil turbine to generate their own power and, often equally importa
by douche 12y ago
Do heavy industrial concerns with high power usage not already usually have an on-site gas or oil turbine to generate their own power and, often equally important, steam?
That's the situation I'm familiar with, but that may be a peculiarity of the under-developed grid in my area.
- fennecfoxen 12y agoTurning bauxite into aluminum is an electrical process (they don't run on direct heat, steam, or mechanical power) and they use a lot of electricity (one reason aluminum-can recycling is such a big deal). Aluminum plants tend to end up in places with cheap electricity (especially hydroelectric) where they can absorb a lot of off-peak capacity as the power customer of last resort.
- brc 12y agoSome do, but that implies on-site supply of gas (oil would not be used for aluminium production much). Building smelters next to coal fields is a way of producing cheap aluminium. Coal is still the cheapest way to make electricity - it's only places where the government has explicitly made this not the case that coal is expensive. Generally unfavourable government regulations simply moves production to places without the regulation - for no net change in production or coal consumption. Sometimes it's a net negative if the new location has lower local emissions standards and technology.
- olau 12y agoPlease provide sources. This is not true for the country I live in for new generation. I read somewhere it's not true for Australia either. People are sometimes fooled by sunk capital costs of old power plants.