Australia: Boral has been halting production at its various production plants when the cost of electricity becomes too high. “At a certain point during the day, when the price goes up to a certain level, our manufacturing stops,” Chief executive officer Vik Bansal told the Australian Financial Review energy and climate summit. He added that the company had assessed that it was cheaper to have “thousands of people waiting idle for the prices to come down than actually do the work.” Additional reporting by the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper revealed that Boral’s staff had been working overtime and in night shifts to manage energy costs and to maintain the supply of building material products to its customers. Bansal told the summit that the company’s electricity costs rose by 54% in the 12 months to the end of June 2023.
However, Bansal was not clear whether all or just some of Boral’s plants have been stopping production temporarily due to peak daily electricity prices. The company produces cement, lime, concrete, asphalt and aggregates at 360 locations.
Boral has signed a fixed-price, 10-year power purchase agreement that will cover 19% of its renewable electricity needs to 2035, but is reportedly struggling to find other cost-effective options. In August 2023 it also reduced its emissions reduction target to 2025 from 2019 figures to up to 14% from 19% previously. It blamed this on “external factors” such as delays in securing the required regulatory approvals for the next phases of an alternative fuel program.
