Economical and environmentally friendly
A new production line in Norðurál’s foundry will add to the value of our product without increasing production. Value-added production, which until now has been done abroad, is being moved to Iceland. By using Icelandic electricity our production has a significantly smaller carbon footprint than if it were to take place abroad.
The project
Construction on a new building, which will house the new production line, has already begun and we aim to start production in Q1 2024. This calls for an investment of 120 million USD and around 80-90 new jobs will be created around the construction, plus derived jobs in other companies. Around 40 permanent jobs will be created once production starts.
Project timeline
Construction has already started, and full scale groundwork will start in the beginning of 2022. It is projected that the construction will be fast-paced and that installation of equipment will be overin the middle of the year 2023. The new line will start production in Q1 2024.
- Q4 ’21 Preparation of construction site
- Q1 ’22 Groundwork and preparation for construction of new foundry
- Q2 ’22 Waste processing building (gjallhús) starts operation
- Q3 ’22 Installation of high voltage equipment
- Q1 ’23 Construction of new foundry finished
- Q3 ’23 Installation of equipment
- Q4 ’23 Testing of equipment and processes
- Q1 ’24 Start of production
Aluminum billets
The new production line will produce aluminum billets. Billets are aluminum cylinders produced through pressure molding. Billets are in high demand by European customers, as aluminum is a key element in the production of electric cars, solar panels, aircraft and sustainable buildings. By moving into billet production Norðurál is moving closer to our customer’s needs.
Smaller carbon footprint
Norðurál uses Icelandic energy in all its production, but until now our aluminum ingots have been melted into billets in Europe, where electricity production has a significantly larger carbon footprint than in Iceland. No additional CO2 is released through billet production in Iceland and the power requirements are significantly lower than if they were produced abroad. We calculate the power savings to be around 40%. Because of the positive environmental impact of the project, it has received green funding from Arion bank.
In short
When production starts in the new foundry the majority of aluminum produced by Norðurál will be in high-value products, such as billets and alloys.
In short:
Investment: 120 million USD
Jobs during construction: 80-90 for two years
Permanent new jobs after construction: 40
Increase in export revenues: 20-30 million USD
Increased electric consumption: 10 MW
Increased energy efficiency: 40%