Century Aluminum Company was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations to begin award negotiations for up to $500 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding to build a new aluminum smelter as part of the Industrial Demonstrations Program (IDP). Century’s Green Aluminum Smelter Project is one of 33 projects across more than 20 states to receive funding designed to demonstrate commercial-scale decarbonization solutions needed to move energy-intensive industries towards net-zero while strengthening local economies, creating and maintaining high-quality jobs, and slashing greenhouse gas emissions.
“We are extremely proud that the DOE has selected Century’s Green Aluminum Smelter Project to receive such significant support, and we are excited to continue moving this transformational project forward,” said Jesse Gary, CEO of Century. “The project embodies a great many goals and aspirations shared by all our stakeholders including providing a tremendous win for the domestic, primary aluminum industry and the broader U.S. economy, strengthening domestic supply chains of critical materials, protecting our national security interests, and building a more sustainable future for generations to come.”
With the help of this DOE funding, Century plans to build the first new U.S. primary aluminum smelter in 45 years. Upon completion, the smelter would double the size of the current U.S. primary aluminum industry. This historic investment represents a major capital injection for the U.S. primary aluminum industry. The project will strengthen domestic supply chains for materials critical for the green energy transition, including electric vehicles, renewable-energy production and storage, building and construction, and sustainable packaging.
Century expects to build this new smelter at a site within the Ohio/Mississippi River Basins. This project is expected to create more than 1,000 full-time jobs represented by the United Steelworkers and over 5,500 construction jobs. Century plans to collaborate with job training organizations and local technical colleges to recruit and train employees from the local community where the smelter is located.
Century Aluminum is an integrated producer of bauxite, alumina and primary aluminum products. The company is the largest producer of primary aluminum in the U.S. and also operates production facilities in Iceland, the Netherlands, and Jamaica.
More Department of Energy Grants for Aluminum
Century’s was just one of the four grants announced for major projects aimed at further decarbonizing aluminum operations in the U.S. Last year, the Aluminum Association established a program to assist members in navigating the application process for these awards, which has shown results.
The other aluminum specific projects include:
- Up to $75 million to Constellium to deploy a first-of-a-kind zero carbon aluminum casting plant in the U.S. at its Ravenswood, West Virginia facility.
- Up to $22.3 million to Golden Aluminum to upgrade its Fort Lupton, Colorado facility using the Nexcast process to reduce natural gas consumption, improve process efficiency and recycle 15% more mixed-grade aluminum scrap.
- Up to $67.3 million to Real Alloy to construct the first zero waste salt slag recycling facility in the U.S. and the most energy efficient facility of its kind in Wabash, Indiana.
According to the Aluminum Association the energy and carbon impact of aluminum production in North America has already dropped to its lowest point in history, declining by more than half over the last 30 years. Aluminum is vital to the clean energy transition – making buildings greener and more durable; vehicles go farther using less energy; and packaging lighter, more efficient to ship and easier to recycle. Over the past decade, the industry has invested more than $10 billion in U.S. manufacturing, including recycling operations and the first greenfield rolling mills in a generation.