Norwegian aluminum company Norsk Hydro ASA’s wholly-owned subsidiary Hydro Energi AS has signed a long-term power contract with Blakliden Fäbodberget Wind AB, a Swedish wind power company, for annual baseload supply of 0.66 terawatt hours (TWh) in the period from 2022 to 2041.

Blakliden Fäbodberget Wind AB is developing an onshore wind park located in northern Sweden, and is owned by Vattenfall (30%), PKA Funds (30%) and Vestas (40%). The wind park has an installed capacity of 350 MW and is planned to produce around 1.1 TWh annually when finalized.

The contract will contribute to supplying power to Hydro’s aluminum plants in Norway.

Primary aluminum smelting energy—the electric power used for electrolysis by the Hall–Héroult processes—was 13,332 kWh per tonne of aluminum, according to World Aluminum. In other words, aluminum production uses a lot of electricity.

Hydro currently offers its customers low-carbon aluminum products, independently certified by DNV GL. Hydro aims to become carbon-neutral from a life-cycle perspective by 2020.

• Hydro 4.0 products are hydropower-based aluminum with a maximum carbon footprint of 4.0 kg CO₂ per kg aluminum.

• Hydro 75R products are aluminum with a minimum of 75% post-consumer recycled content.