It is misleading to claim that this does nothing for the lows, because everything that's happening here is symmetric.
Let's say that aluminium production currently draws a permanent base load of 1GW. Let's say that the minimum acceptable overall level of electricity production given the status quo is 20GW. If aluminium producers manage to adapt their production so that they can temporarily operate on only 0.5GW, then the minimum acceptable overall level of electricity production is now 19.5GW.
Unlike what the article misleadingly says, this is not magic that can somehow generate electricity when all other sources fail. But it does shift the line of when low levels of production become critical.
Let's say that aluminium production currently draws a permanent base load of 1GW. Let's say that the minimum acceptable overall level of electricity production given the status quo is 20GW. If aluminium producers manage to adapt their production so that they can temporarily operate on only 0.5GW, then the minimum acceptable overall level of electricity production is now 19.5GW.
Unlike what the article misleadingly says, this is not magic that can somehow generate electricity when all other sources fail. But it does shift the line of when low levels of production become critical.