Century Aluminum signs power agreement for South Carolina smelter

Century Aluminum Co., a primary aluminum producer headquartered in Chicago, has announced that it has been able to renegotiate a market-based agreement with a third-party supplier to provide about 75 percent of the power requirements needed for the company’s Mount Holly aluminum smelter in Goose Creek, South Carolina. The remaining 25 percent of the smelter’s power requirement will continue to be supplied by Santee Cooper.

With the power agreement, the company says it will continue to operate at around 50 percent of capacity while it seeks a competitive long-term arrangement.

"We are proud of the team at Mt. Holly, who have operated the plant safely and efficiently during these highly uncertain times," says Michael Bless, Century president and CEO. "We have regrettably not been able to achieve an agreement for full market power access; such a structure is required for Mount Holly's long-term competitiveness. We have achieved this current milestone due to the highly competitive nature of the wholesale power markets at the present time and additional cost reduction measures.”

Bless adds that being able to obtain full access to market power would allow the smelter to run at maximum capacity.

At full capacity the Mount Holly smelter has the capacity of 231,000 metric tons of aluminum per year. The plant has two Alcoa-designed potlines with a total of 360 reduction cells.