Alumetal installs solar panels for decarbonizing aluminum recycling

Alumetal has announced the installation of solar panels on its path to decarbonization. The solar panels being installed at Alumetal’s recycling plant in Kęty, Poland, will generate 1,000 MWh of electricity per year and are expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2025.

Hanne Simensen, Executive Vice President of Hydro Aluminium Metal said. “although aluminum recycling only requires 5 % of the energy used to produce primary metal in a smelter, every step counts towards achieving net zero. The solar panels at Kęty are another step in the right direction.”he said.

The €870,000 investment will enable the plant to replace part of its energy supply with locally generated renewable energy. This project is aligned with Hydro’s decarbonization roadmap and its commitment to reduce the company’s carbon emissions by 30 % by 2030, with the goal of achieving net zero emissions in Scopes 1 and 2 by 2050.

The investment also includes the modernization of the plant’s main safety and power metering system.

The 1,000 MWh of electricity produced from renewable solar energy will cover 15% of the plant’s annual electricity needs, enough to power about 100 average European homes for a year.
When the plant does not use all of the electricity produced, the surplus will be fed into the local power grid, supplying clean energy to nearby homes, businesses and other facilities.

“The solar panels at Kęty are another important milestone for Alumetal and a key step on our path to decarbonization. The use of local and on-site energy production will increase energy efficiency, improve circularity in our plant and reduce the carbon footprint of the final recycled aluminum product we deliver to our customers,”commented Agnieszka Drzyżdżyk, managing director of Alumetal.

Hydro acquired Alumetal in 2023, and the new solar panels add to recent investments and sustainability efforts made at Alumetal.

A €20 million modernization and investment project at the Kęty plant, announced in August 2023, will be completed in the first half of 2025. The investment will increase the plant’s capacity by approximately 30,000 tons and improve safety and operational efficiency.

On November 4, Alumetal completed an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) to document the environmental footprint of its recycled aluminum alloy foundry products.