THE SMELTER in Fort William is to become the flagship of ‘green metal strategy’ according to new owners.
Since acquiring the aluminium smelter formerly owned by Rio Tinto along with the neighbouring Kinlochleven hydro plant in December 2016, GFG Alliance company SIMEC has already invested £10 million to install 18MW of bio-diesel generation capacity to reduce the reliance of the smelter on imported power from the national grid.
Last week, plans to further invest tens of millions of pounds to boost the output of existing hydro-electric plants and introducing new hydro generators, as well as extending the use of bio diesel and exploring other renewable energy sources such as wind, biomass and waste-to-energy, were revealed by SIMEC and Liberty (also of GFG Alliance) to MSP Paul Wheelhouse.