Fortum Supports Feasibility Study for Low-Carbon Aluminium Manufacturing in Finland
Fortum, serving as the energy partner, will support a feasibility study to explore opportunities for low-carbon aluminium manufacturing in Kokkola and Kronoby, Finland. Leveraging its decades of expertise in the Nordic energy market, Fortum's role will focus on supporting long-term hedging strategies related to the potential facility and sourcing electricity from both existing and new generation assets.
If realized, the aluminium manufacturing facility would be the first greenfield primary aluminium development in continental Europe in over 30 years, significantly increasing the supply of domestic low-carbon aluminium. The facility is projected to consume approximately 7 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity annually.
The feasibility study will be conducted by the Arctial project company in collaboration with global industry partners Rio Tinto, Vargas, Mitsubishi Corporation, Fortum, and Finnish Industry Investment (Tesi). The study will assess the feasibility of low-carbon aluminium manufacturing across social, technical, environmental, and commercial aspects.
"Finland's existing almost fully CO2-free power generation mix and strong pipeline of new wind and solar projects are key to the decarbonisation of various industrial sectors. We are pleased to be able to support the Arctial project company with our Nordic power market expertise and by providing our insights to their feasibility study," said Simon-Erik Ollus, Executive Vice President at Fortum.
Fortum's strategic priorities include delivering reliable, clean energy and driving decarbonisation across industries in the Nordics. Fortum’s power generation portfolio offers an optimal clean energy mix, and the company is working with industrial partners to reduce their carbon footprints.
"We have a strong hypothesis centred around low-carbon aluminium produced in Europe, for Europe. The first step is to conduct a detailed feasibility study, and we look forward to assessing the opportunity together with the municipalities of Kokkola and Kronoby, Finnish authorities, and our leading partners," said Torbjörn Sternsjö, CEO of the Arctial project company.
The project organisation anticipates making a final investment decision regarding the production facility between 2026 and 2027, following a comprehensive evaluation process that begins with the feasibility study.
