Tomago, in which Rio Tinto holds the majority stake, consumes roughly 12 per cent of New South Wales’s total power generation, making it the state’s single largest electricity user. Such voracious demand underlines both the plant’s strategic importance to the national aluminium industry and its vulnerability to energy price shocks. The smelter produces up to 590 thousand tonnes of aluminium annually, cementing its place as Australia’s largest producer.
Faced with higher wholesale electricity prices, Rio Tinto has set an ambitious decarbonisation roadmap for Tomago: it plans for renewables to supply more than half of the smelter’s power requirements by 2030 and to eliminate reliance on fossil fuels entirely by 2035. This trajectory aligns with federal initiatives unveiled in January when Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese committed AUD 2 billion (USD 1.3 billion) to establish Green Aluminium Production Credits. The scheme is designed to incentivise Australia’s smelters to transition to renewable generation by 2036.
