As Oklahoma Corporation Commissioners appear bent on supporting the request of Public Service Company of Oklahoma to acquire a power generating plant in Jenks, it also means the ability of PSO to produce dependable electricity was a key part of the recent announcement of a proposed $4 billion aluminum smeltering plant at the Port of Inola.
It also suggests why state regulators will likely go along with the PSO request in order to meet the need for electricity production to match industrial growth in northeast Oklahoma.
“That was part of the negotiation for this facility,” explained Energy Secretary Jeff Starling in a recent interview for Scott Mitchell talks energy with Jerry Bohnen.
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the world’s largest producer of ‘premium aluminum’, reached the agreement announced two weeks ago by Gov. Kevin Stitt. The $4 billion plant would be the first such aluminum production plant to be built in the United States in 45 years. It would also create nearly 1,000 direct jobs, another 1,800 indirect jobs and help the state grow its base of additional manufacturing jobs.
Starling indicated the company and others are “working with PSO to make sure there is the necessary capacity and electricity to power that facility—that’s part of the deal.”
It’s also why corporation commissioners are leaning toward PSO’s request for preapproval of its $730 million purchase of the Green Country Power Plant at Jenks.
The smeltering plant, according to Starling, will receive shipments up the McClellan-Kerr Navigation system. Aluminum is created from boxite which is mined throughout the world. The boxite is refined into alumina which Starling says is a critical mineral, one of those defined by President Trump.
“This commodity product, alumina, will be transported by barge up to the Inola port and smeltered into aluminum which can then be used in downstream applications in Oklahoma and elsewhere around the country.”
He said the current thought is when you have alumina, it becomes not only a critical mineral but a key component to many other products including the aerospace industry and others. In other words, the aluminum plant will likely attract other industries to locate adjacent to it.
“This will allow those type of facilities to be manufactured close to the aluminum smelting plant because transportation costs make it cheaper. Otherwise, we would have to source it from overseas and here, we have it in Oklahoma.”
In short, the plant could become a magnet for many other industries.
“I think it’s reasonably safe to assume we will have other businesses pop up…other industries pop up because of the proximity to the aluminum product here.”
As an example of the critical aspect of aluminum manufacturing, a report released this week by Alcoa Corporation cited several 2024 accomplishments:
- Sourced 86% of the electricity used in Alcoa smelters from renewable energy
- Achieved a 2.03:1 ratio of mine rehabilitation to mine disturbance
- Provided US$1.6 billion in wages and benefits to employees
- US$8.2 million spent globally on workforce learning and development
- Completed 15 supplier site collaborations as part of Alcoa’s responsible sourcing program, a 10-site increase from 2023
- Maintained 18 active operating locations certified by the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI)
One previous Alcoa boxite refinery was in south Texas. The company closed the Point Comfort alumina refinery in 2019 after 70 years of operations. Hundreds of employees were laid off when Alcoa decided to fully curtail operations in 2016.
It is reported there are only six aluminum smelters across the U.S. as of 2023. Just nine years earlier, there were nine such smelters in the U.S. Curent smelting operations are at plants in Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, South Carolina and New York. One of the most recent to close was an Alcoa plant in Ferndale, Washington. Its operations ceased in March 2023.
