Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia's first aluminium smelter will reach full production more slowly than planned due to long delays to a power plant it needs to run flat out.

Saudi Arabian Mining Company expects to begin operations at the aluminium smelter it shares with US based Alcoa in December and has secured some of the huge amounts of electricity it will need. But it will be unable to ramp up to 740,000 tonnes per year of smelting capacity because the 2,400 MW power plants due online in October will not be ready until late 2013.

The company said that the power project halt may cause shortage in the supply of electricity required by the Maaden Aluminum Company at Ras Al Khair. The impact on the project will lead to a slowdown in the scheduled ramp up to reach the designed capacity of the aluminum smelter.

Maaden and Alcoa teamed up in 2009 to build the world's largest integrated aluminium complex at Ras al Khair which is fast becoming a mining centre on the Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia. But in a country which struggles to meet demand for electricity in summer when air conditioning demand spikes, the two partners are now facing long delays to the power plant they were banking on to supply most of their electricity.

Mr Abdulrahman Mohammed al Ibrahim head of state run Saudi Saline Water Conversion Corporation said that “First production of electricity was supposed to be in October 2012. We are anticipating 10 month delay. To overcome this delay SWCC has taken the responsibility to provide power to the grid in excess of 450 MW to meet client demand.”