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By Andy Home, Senior Metals Columnist

Hello Power Up readers! In today’s issue we look at aluminium. It’s a key energy transition metal but comes with a heavy carbon footprint. There are signs, however, that the industry is starting to crack its carbon paradox.

Meanwhile, the fall-out from the collapse in lithium prices continues to ripple around the globe. Zimbabwe is the latest country trying to work out how to expand its battery metal sector against a backdrop of bombed-out prices.  

Also in the news, Brazil holds the problematic key to Latin America’s solar energy future, India goes big on coal to keep the lights on and Canada’s Alberta won’t let wind turbines spoil the view.    

Today’s top headlines:

• Ample supply to hold down oil prices: Reuters poll

• Russia tries to clear Sokol oil glut with fresh China sales

• EU 2030 wind target within reach, industry body says

   

An aluminium smelter in Krasnoyarsk Russia. The clean energy metal comes with a heavy carbon footprint. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk.

Aluminium is one of the metals critical to the clean energy transition. Its light weight and high strength make it ideal for the transport sector, where it’s used as automotive body sheet and casing for electric vehicle batteries. The world is going to need a lot more of it but that’s a problem since making the stuff is so energy intensive. Primary aluminium producers generate over a billion metric tons of carbon dioxide every year and the sector accounts for around 2% of all man-made emissions. Such is aluminium’s carbon paradox.  

However, as Reuters reports here, the sector generated fewer emissions in 2022 even as global production grew. It’s the first drop in emissions since 2009 when multiple smelters closed in the wake of the global financial crisis. This time around it’s a sign of the sector’s progress in tackling its heavy carbon footprint.

Zimbabwe’s lithium mining sector told it needs to move downstream into processing. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

Zimbabwe’s hard-rock lithium reserves, some of the world’s biggest, have attracted over $1 billion of investment from mainly Chinese players. Now the government wants operators to move from just mining the battery metal to processing it as well. A March deadline has been set for producers to submit their plans for investing downstream in value-added lithium products.  

There’s only one problem. The price of lithium has crashed in recent months and, as Nyasha Chingono in Harare reports here, local operators are reluctant to invest while the price outlook is so clouded. Zimbabwe’s struggle to capitalize on its lithium riches is typical of a global market trying to cope with the sudden shift from scarcity to oversupply.  

Solar power capacity in pre-construction by region by Gavin Maguire.

Latin America could leapfrog Southern Asia and North America to become the world’s second-largest hub for solar power behind eastern Asia. The volume of pre-construction capacity would translate into the region’s solar energy generation leaping five-fold. But it all depends on Brazil, which accounts for 65% of the planned regional build-out.  

Recent changes to tax and subsidy levels on solar component imports may not be the accelerator intended by the Brazilian government. Gavin Maguire, Reuters Energy Transition Columnist, looks beyond the headlines to understand whether Brazil can deliver on its shining promise.  

Indian power generators are sitting on record amounts of coal stocks. REUTERS/Amit Dave

Fossil fuels or renewables? India is taking an “all-of-the-above” approach when it comes to meeting the country’s growing power demand. The country has ramped up coal production with generators sitting on record stocks even as they produce record amounts of energy.  

Reuters Senior Energy Analyst John Kemp takes a deep dive into how India is leaning heavily on coal to avoid the power cuts seen in previous years during the March-May peak consumption period.  

“We need to ensure that we’re not sacrificing our future agricultural yields, or tourism dollars, or breathtaking viewscapes to rush renewables development through.” 

Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith on the province’s renewable energy rethink.  

Canada’s western province of Alberta has led the country in building renewable energy capacity and is on track to eliminate coal use in its power system this year, six years ahead of plan. But it’s about to hit the brakes on further investment.  

The provincial government intends to ban new projects on prime agricultural land and set up buffer zones to prevent wind turbines spoiling scenic views. More details will be announced in due course. David Ljunggren in Ottawa reports on what environmentalists are calling an “uncertainty bomb” for Alberta’s once-booming renewables sector.  

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