Romanian aluminium company Alro SA (Alro Slatina) announced last week a new deal with Complexul Energetic Oltenia (CEO) to invest in the construction of a natural gas plant at its Isalnita operations.
Per the agreement, Alro and CEO will form a SPV tasked with constructing a new natural gas plant, which will have a power-generating capacity of 850 MW. The new natural gas plant will take the place of the existing coal-fired blocks, each of which generate 315 MW per annum.
Alro chair Marian NĂSTASE said in a press release that his firm is eager to enter into this project, as it aligns with the firm’s aims in staying apace with ever-changing aluminium market realities.
“This partnership will offer ALRO the opportunity to diversify its business model, as the security of supply for electricity is a must for the aluminium industry and will support the Group’s long-term development plans in a very challenging business environment. While this is a very complex endeavour, we are confident we will be successful, having a strong partner, CEO, that understands the new realities of the energy market and demonstrates it knows how to adapt to them.”
Alro was founded in 1963 and is based in Slatina, Romania. The firm, a subsidiary of Vimetco N.V., is managed by Russian investor Vitaliy Machitski and has an installed capacity of 265,000 metric tons per year, making it one of the largest producers in Central and Eastern Europe outside of Russia and Scandinavia. It also produces 35 thousand metric tons per annum of recycled aluminium and churns out 335 thousand metric tons per annum of cast aluminium.
