Novelis, Atlanta, has announced plans to invest about $200 million to expand its Oswego, N.Y., rolling operations. The expansion is in response to escalating domestic demand for aluminum sheet. Novelis says the expansion will result in increasing capacity to by more than 200,000 tons per year, five times the company's North America capacity for producing aluminum sheet for the automotive industry.

Novelis says it controls more than 50 percent of the global market share for aluminum sheet used for making structural components and exterior body panels.

“This world class expansion will provide customers with highly engineered aluminum sheet designed to significantly improve the fuel economy and reduce emissions of new vehicles currently in development, while also reducing the lifecycle carbon footprint of their overall operations," says Philip Martens, president and CEO of Novelis.

The investment will include the construction of two new high-performance aluminum processing lines for automotive applications. The Oswego facility is an integrated recycling, hot rolling and cold rolling complex that produces aluminum sheet for the beverage can, automotive and building construction industries.

The company expects the expansion to be complete by the summer of 2013.

In addition to incentives from the State of New York and Empire State Development, the County of Oswego Industrial Development Agency is providing additional support to the project.