April 28 (Reuters) – Meridian Vitality MEL.NZ stated on Wednesday it had agreed to an electrical energy swap to assist Rio Tinto’s RIO.AX aluminium smelter in New Zealand voluntarily scale back its electrical energy consumption because the nation battles dry climate.
New Zealand’s Aluminium Smelter (NZAS), 79.4% owned by Rio Tinto, is the nation’s single largest energy consumer.
The swap will compensate NZAS for any load it voluntarily decides to cut back as much as 30.5 megawatt per hour and stays in place till the tip of Might.
The smelter had come beneath the specter of closure final 12 months as a result of excessive prices and a difficult market earlier than Rio reached a take care of Meridian to proceed operations till December 2024.
(Reporting by Arundhati Dutta in Bengaluru; Modifying by Aditya Soni)
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