At an aluminium smelter in Karmoy, south-west Norway, the producer Norsk Hydro and the government are spending nearly half a billion euros to test-run electrolysis technology that it hopes will reduce its energy needs by 15 per cent. It does not sound like much. Yet in a sector that spends up to 45 per cent of its production costs on electricity, the technology could raise billions in profits for European companies competing against rivals in China, the world’s largest producer, and its cheap power prices. “You have to be as energy efficient as possible, because that’s how you make your profits,” says Cillian O’Donoghue, energy and climate change manager at the non-ferrous metals industry group Eurometaux. “For an old technology that has been produced for over 100 years, Karmoy is a huge breakthrough . . . The Chinese want the technology, but it’s proprietary technology.” The pilot project only […]