(Zero Hedge)—The ‘Powering Up America’ theme has primarily focused on the surge of AI data centers being plugged into the nation’s electric grid to fuel chatbots and the digital economy. But what’s often overlooked are other major electrification trends, like on-shoring massive aluminum smelters, that will soon compete with AI data centers for power on strained grids.
Emirates Global Aluminium plans to break ground next year on a $4 billion smelter in Oklahoma with an annual capacity of 600,000 tons. The project, expected to take four years to complete, would mark the first new aluminum smelter built in the U.S. in 45 years—aligning with President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda to re-shore critical mineral supply chains.
On-shoring and increasing production capacity for critical mineral supply chains are wonderful, especially aluminum, which is used in everything from consumer products to defense weapons. Yet aluminum smelters are among the most energy-intensive industrial plants in the world.
According to the U.S. Aluminum Association, producing one metric ton of aluminum takes nearly 15,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity. A modern smelter with a capacity of 750,000 tons, or about the size of the new Oklahoma smelter that will be online at the end of the decade, consumes more electricity than Boston.
Reuters spoke with Matt Aboud, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Century Aluminum, who explained that the problem for new smelters is locking in long-term competitive power contracts.
Last week, Aboud told attendees at the CRU Aluminium Conference in London that new smelters must secure long-term power contracts to lock in profitability and recoup billions of dollars in construction costs.
Estimates from the Aluminum Association indicate that a new U.S. smelter brought online this decade would need a 20-year power contract with prices locked in around $40 per MWh for the business to be viable.
The push to build new aluminum smelters aligns with broader on-shoring trends and the electrification of American industry. But it’s now colliding with the explosive growth of AI data centers (see: ‘The Next AI Trade’), intensifying the battle for power demand on the nation’s strained grid.
“Any smelter project is in a race with Big Tech, which is on the same hunt for energy to power its next-generation artificial intelligence data centres,” Reuters noted.
Aluminum Association said that Microsoft paid around $115 per MWh to lock in a long-term power deal with Constellation Energy to restart Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear plant.
The group added that even reactivating shuttered aluminum lines in the four U.S. states hosting smelters would raise power prices to north of $70 per MWh.
Emirates Global has said the smelter’s construction is contingent on securing a favorable long-term power deal with a local utility in the state.
What’s colliding on the grid—whether from new smelters or AI data centers—is the battle for affordable, reliable power. And that’s why Trump just did this…
Bypass Big Tech Censors
Why One Survival Food Company Shines Above the Rest
Let’s be real. “Prepper Food” or “Survival Food” is generally awful. The vast majority of companies that push their cans, bags, or buckets desperately hope that their customers never try them and stick them in the closet or pantry instead. Why? Because if the first time they try them is after the crap hits the fan, they’ll be too shaken to call and complain about the quality.
It’s true. Most long-term storage food is made with the cheapest possible ingredients with limited taste and even less nutritional value. This is why they tout calories so much. Sure, they provide calories but does anyone really want to go into the apocalypse with food their family can’t stand?
This is what prompted the Llewellyns to launch Heaven’s Harvest. They bought survival food from multiple companies and determined they couldn’t imagine being stuck in an extended emergency with such low-quality food. They quickly discovered that freeze drying food for long-term storage doesn’t have to mean sacrificing flavor, consistency, or nutrition.
Their ingredients are all-American. In fact, they’re locally sourced and all-natural! This allows their products to be the highest quality on the market, so good that their customers often break open a bag in a pinch to eat because they want to, not just because they have to due to an emergency.
At Heaven’s Harvest, their only focus is amazing food. They don’t sell bugout bags, solar chargers, or multitools. They have one mission – feeding Americans in times of crisis.
What they DO offer is the ability for people to thrive in times of greatest need. On top of long-term storage food, they offer seeds to help Americans for the truly long-term. They want them to grow their own food if possible which is why they offer only Heirloom, Non-GMO, Non-Hybrid, Open-Pollinated seeds so their customers can build permanent food security on their own property.
