Alcoa, the largest aluminum producer in the United States, is selling its idle Massena East smelter in upstate New York to Bitcoin company New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) in a bid to sell dormant assets and tap demand for energy-enabled industrial land.
CEO Bill Oplinger said the company is progressing with negotiations and expects the deal to close “in the middle of this year,” Bloomberg reported.
The facility, located along the St. Lawrence River, had been idle since 2014, when Alcoa closed it due to high operating costs and global competition.
The charm lies not in the metal itself, but in the power of the site. Aluminum smelters are built to operate 24 hours a day and provide large amounts of electricity through dedicated substations and transmission lines. Even if we close, that infrastructure will remain.
For Bitcoin miners and data center developers, this can shave years off the time needed to secure access to the grid.
Massena East also has access to hydroelectric power from the New York Power Authority, making it attractive to businesses seeking low-cost, carbon-free energy.
The deal reflects broader changes. Earlier this year, Century Aluminum sold its Kentucky smelter to Terrawolf (WULF). Terrawolf plans to build a digital infrastructure campus that supports high-performance computing and AI.
