On 6 October, Hydro presented a portfolio of investments and agreements covering several stages of Europe’s aluminium value chain. The company linked renewable power sourcing, manufacturing capacity and recycling with demand from electricity networks and other industrial customers. The release is a roundup of commitments announced since the ALUMINIUM 2024 trade fair, rather than a single new contract signed on publication day.

In Norway, Hydro said it was investing NOK 1.2 billion in the Illvatn pumped-storage plant and NOK 1.65 billion in a new wire-rod casthouse at Karmøy. The Karmøy project is expected to add 110,000 tonnes a year of low-carbon aluminium wire-rod capacity for electricity cables. The investments are intended to add flexibility to renewable generation and expand metal supply for electrical infrastructure, respectively.

Hydro said it had agreements to supply NKT with up to 274,000 tonnes of wire rod through 2033 and Nexans with about 85,000 tonnes from 2026 to 2030. Together, the agreements cover close to 360,000 tonnes of aluminium for European electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure. The NKT quantity is stated as a maximum; the release does not set a uniform annual delivery schedule, and contract volumes are not completed shipments.

The company also described recycling capacity. Annual capacity to recycle post-consumer aluminium scrap had reached around 850,000 tonnes by the end of 2025. The planned Torija plant in Spain is designed for annual output of 120,000 tonnes and processing of up to 70,000 tonnes of post-consumer scrap. Integrating four Alumetal plants in Poland and Hungary adds 280,000 tonnes a year of recycled foundry-alloy capacity.

The figures combine investment amounts, designed annual capacity, customer agreements and capacity Hydro said was already reached; they are different types of measure. Hydro said long-term power contracts and hydropower development complement industrial investment. The release does not establish that all future output will be sold or that every capacity will run at full utilisation. It separately mentions the July 2026 Slovalco restart agreement as prior context, not as a new 6 October development.

Hydro outlines a portfolio, not a single new investment decision. The announcement does not provide a common cost-benefit calculation or a completion rate across the projects, so investment plans, capacity and customer agreements remain separate measures.