Century Aluminum Co. announced on Monday that it had been chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a $500 million grant aimed to construct a new green aluminum smelter. The initiative is geared towards speeding up the process of industrial decarbonization.
Before the opening of the Nasdaq market, stocks of Century Aluminum had seen a rise of approximately 5.1 percent, trading at $13.90.
Negotiations for the immense grant, given as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, will commence under the supervision of the DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations. This is part of their contribution to the Industrial Demonstrations Program with the end goal of establishing the new aluminum smelter.
The project by Century Aluminum forms part of the 33 nationwide projects across over 20 states green lit for government funding. The main objective being the development of commercial-scale decarbonization solutions. The initiative is set to solidify domestic supply chains, catering to crucial materials needed for the green energy transition. This spans various sectors such as electric vehicle production, construction, renewable energy production and storage, not forgetting sustainable packaging.
The funding provided by the DOE will facilitate Century Aluminum in constructing the first new U.S. primary aluminum smelter, in the last 45 years, located within the Ohio/Mississippi River Basins.
This promising project is projected to create more than a thousand full-time jobs, represented by the United Steelworkers and over 5,500 construction jobs. Furthermore, upon finishing the construction of the smelter, it's expected to double the size of the existing U.S. primary aluminum industry.
