Alinta Energy may build wind farm that could power Portland smelter

• Alinta Energy is considering building a megawatt wind farm off the coast of Portland in Victoria that could potential help power Aloca’s Portland aluminium smelter
• The project is in its very early stages, with Alinta looking at a 500 square kilometres area offshore with strong winds
• The wind farm will need to be around 1000 megawatts
• If this windfarm goes ahead, the Portland smelter could be powered by up to 100 per cent renewables

Alinta Energy is considering building an offshore wind farm off the coast of Portland in Victoria that could potential help power Aloca’s Portland aluminium smelter.

The project is in very early stages, with Alinta looking at a 500 square kilometres area offshore where it could tap in to the strong wind resource.

For the wind farm to go ahead, Alinta will need to complete environmental studies, technology and cost studies as well as receiving government and community approvals before going ahead.

Alinta’s head of project development Kris Lynch said the farm will need to be around 1000 megawatts to be viable.

Despite having thousands of kilometers of coastline with strong winds, Australia has no offshore windfarms. There is more than 10 proposed offshore project that has a combined capacity of more than 25 gigawatts.

If this windfarm goes ahead, the Portland smelter could be powered by up to 100 per cent renewables, accoridng to the company.

The smelter, Victoria’s largest single power user, is currently dependent on coal-fired power and is searching for solutions to decarbonize.

“This proposal offers an ability to make a step change impact to Portland Aluminium’s carbon footprint,” Portland Aluminium Smelter Manager Ron Jorgensen said in a statement.