Industrial  -  March 1, 2021

EU plans largest carbon-free steel plant to be built in Sweden

EIT InnoEnergy announced Feb. 23 that its H2 Green Steel Initiative will be leading the construction of the world’s first large-scale carbon-free steel plant in Sweden using green hydrogen.

Using investments of up to €2.5 billion, the facility is expected to create 5 million tons of steel annually by 2030. The plant will be located in Boden-Luleå in the north of Sweden and will also focus on decreasing the carbon footprint of downstream steel manufacturing in addition to using clean power.

Large-scale production is expected to start as early as 2024.

“The H2 Green Steel initiative has the scale, ambition, innovative business model, and implementation team to become a flagship of Europe’s position at the forefront of the transformation of energy-intensive industries,” Diego Pavia, EIT InnoEnergy CEO, said in a statement. “This case, which is replicable, is key to deliver on Europe’s climate neutrality pledges. Those are dimensions core to EIT InnoEnergy’s mission, and this Green Steel industrial project is another compelling example of EIT InnoEnergy’s strategic commitment to being a key enabler of the energy transition by developing strategic industrial value chains in Europe.”

According to EIT, steel production accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions annually and green hydrogen is on track to become a central piece of the EU’s climate neutral ambitions. The group is aiming to develop an annual €100 billion green hydrogen economy by 2025 through the European Green Hydrogen Acceleration Center, of which the H2 Green Steel Initiative is a key first project.