Coastal erosion having an impact at Tiwai Point, NZAS reports show stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
NZAS has released a package of reports containing results of extensive environmental monitoring conducted at Tiwai Point, and detailed plans for further monitoring that will be undertaken as part of its closure study. Chief executive and site general manager Stew Hamilton said based on the review work done and the interaction with regulators to date, NZAS is confident it is currently compliant with all of its consents and environmental obligations. “We want to make sure our community and the local and government officials who monitor our performance understand our planning process and the importance we place on our environmental performance.”
But correspondence released under the OIA states the smelter s owners, Rio Tinto and Sumitomo, rejected the proposal. “Unfortunatey, Rio Tinto and Sumitoto have declined to make any substantive remediation commitments prior to the finalisation of a preliminary disclosure plan next year, and has rejected the Government’s proposal of a bond payment linked to remediation, without tabling any alternative suggestions,” an email from Treasury commercial performance manager Maureena van der Lem to Rio Tinto’s general manager of energy, Andrew Horvat, stated in December. Rio Tinto has been seeking help from the Government to slash the electricity transmission fees it pays Transpower which appears to have been its preferred form of assistance from the Government.
Power supplier Meridian to consider curtailing smelter demand if situation worsens.
Worried about low lake levels and a lack of rain, Tiwai Point aluminium smelter’s eyes are peeled for any further plunge in hydro storage as its electricity supplier contemplates an unprecedented move in mandating the smelter cut consumption.
The angst over New Zealand’s primary source of baseload generation comes as electricity spot prices remain elevated on a squeezed supply of natural gas and lakes reaching low levels not seen this time of year for more than a quarter of a century.
At the same time, New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS), the Rio Tinto-controlled operator of the Tiwai smelter, is enjoying a
Tiwai angst as hydro storage keeps falling nbr.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nbr.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.