Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 4: The toxic cradle of productionElectric energy is the most significant input into aluminium smelting and, for Billiton,cheap electricity from Eskom was the primary reason for locating both Hillside andMozal. Table 11 below shows energy consumption for the three Billiton plants equatingto 12% of South Africa’s electricity supply and 4% of total final energy demand.The balance of the smelters’ energy is derived from coking coal, gas and liquid fuels.Mozal, of course, is not formally included in South African energy demand or carbonemissions, but it is directly supplied by Eskom on similar terms to Hillside and Bayside.In short, it would not be there if it was not bound to South Africa’s energy economy.It consumes more electricity and emits more carbon than the rest of Mozambique puttogether. 85The precise terms of the pricing deal are secret but Billiton undoubtedly gets thecheapest electricity in the world. The normal industrial rate, at around 14c/kWh, isalready the world’s cheapest and the smelters are supplied below this price. It is alsoknown that the price of power is tied to the world price of aluminium, so protectingBilliton from both currency and commodity price fluctuations. In fact, much ofthe risk is transferred to Eskom which reportedly “wins or loses $300 million” forevery 10% swing in the value of the Rand [Bond 2007: 7]. There is one snag fromBilliton’s perspective: the contract includes an ‘interruptible supply’ condition whichEskom invoked during South Africa’s electricity crisis in 2008. Eskom demanded a10% reduction from the combined consumption of the three smelters and Billiton cutproduction at Bayside.Table 11: Aluminium smelters: production, energy, waste (2006).ProductiontonnesTotalfinalenergy(PJ)Electricenergy(PJ)CO 2emilliontonnesSO 2tonnesFluoridetonnesWastetonnesMozal 550,000 37 27 9.4 11,945 249 22,230Hillside 700,000 47 45 11.6 11,161 354 48,272Bayside 180,000 14 10 4.1 4,021 357 43,000Total 1,430,000 98 82 25 27,127 960 113,502South2,368 665 440AfricaSources: Billiton 2006; SA Energy Statistics 2005.85 Mozambique’s own energy production is chiefly from the Cabora Bassa Dam which adds 2,000 MW to SouthAfrica’s 40,000 MW installed capacity. The World Resource Institute puts Mozambique’s CO 2emissions at 1.2mt/y in 2000. Its overall CO 2e emissions are put at 15 mt/y – but this includes methane from cattle farting andis really a measure of how the industrialised world is trying to make the non-industrial world co-responsible forclimate change.Wasting the Nation - groundWork - 121 -