Germany, a country with poor solar and wind energy prospects, compared to the United States or countries such as Spain or Italy, seems to be a leader in alternative energy.  Germany has tied its electric rate to abundance or scarcity of electric generating power.  When the wind blows and the sun shines, rates are lower.  When it is dark or cloudy the electric rate rises.  A company, Trimet Aluminum, is Germany’s largest aluminum manufacturer.  The company makes Aluminum using electrolysis (that is, it sends a current of electricity to separate the aluminum from Oxygen).  Consequently, Trimet has pools of molten Aluminum.

Molten aluminum basically acts as a battery, which can generate electricity.  The company maximizes its process by using the most electricity from the grid when the sun shines and when it is cloudy, it can reverse its process and provide the grid with enough electricity to power 300,000 homes for a day.  Furthermore, when prices for electricity are high, it can reduce its electricity consumption temporarily by 25% and then increase the process when rates are lower again.

This process appears to be scalable to other power intensive industries such as cement manufacturers, paper mills and chemicals.  All of these manufactures exist in the US today.  Furthermore, large electrolysis plants exist in the manufacturer of chlorine for paint, paper, plastics, fabric, drugs and antiseptics.  So using the smart grid and charging higher prices when the cost to generate electricity is higher could incentivize companies to mimic Trimet and use the manufacturing process to provide power to the gird when needed.  Without some sort of incentive program such as different rates for when power is more expensive to produce there is little hope that the US system will change quickly.  With the proper incentives our power grid may assist rather than hinder more intelligent use of our resources and reflect the true cost of electrical generation.