Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C.’s (Alba) chairman attended the First Concrete Pour at the foundation of its new Power Station 5 (PS5) Block 4 Project, which is expected to make a marked positive impact on the aluminium smelter’s greenhouse gas emissions upon completion.
In addition to Alba’s Chairman of Board Shaikh Daij, Board member Shaikh Isa bin Khalid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, CEO Ali Al Baqali, Chief Power Officer Amin Sultan and several other company officials were in attendance for the occasion. So to were representatives from the Mitsubishi Power and SEPCOIII consortium.
“We are pleased to carry out the first foundation concrete pour for PS5 Block 4 Project, thus debuting the kick-off of construction activities and other site works, explained Chairman Shaikh Daij in a press release.
“This Project — part of Alba’s ambitious decarbonisation initiatives — is a combined cycle power plant with a hydrogen-ready J-series gas turbine technology which upon completion in Q4 2024 will reduce Alba’s overall GHG emissions, thus setting the benchmark in terms of sustainable and efficient Aluminium production all the while accelerating the Kingdom’s goals to reach Net Zero Emissions by 2060.”
Alba is one of the largest industrial companies in the Middle East and is the world’s biggest aluminium smelter outside the People’s Republic of China. Originally incorporated in 1968, the company is based in Bahrain and 84% of its total workforce are Bahraini nationals. It began operations in 1971 with a 120,000 metric ton annual capacity. Modernization bumped the output up to 450,000 metric tons in 1992. In the spring of 2005, Alba opened Line 5, raising output by 860,000 metric tons per year. In 2021 Alba’s smelter produced 1,561,222 metric tons of primary aluminium.