Steel manufacturer Salzgitter and energy company Uniper have concluded an agreement to work together to use green hydrogen produced using electricity from offshore wind to produce low-carbon steel
Under the plan, Uniper would supply Salzgitter with ‘cost-competitive’ green hydrogen, which the company will use in steel-making.
The partners foresee the development of two parallel projects: an import terminal capable of converting green ammonia to hydrogen; and a large-scale electrolysis plant with a capacity of up to 1 GW, which will produce green hydrogen using electricity from a new offshore windfarm in the North Sea.
Salzgitter chief executive Gunnar Groebler said, “We are aligning Salzgitter with low CO2 production processes and the circular economy.
“Secure and economically viable sourcing of green hydrogen is a fundamental prerequisite on our journey toward our SALCOS concept.” SALCOS stands for ‘Salzgitter Low CO2-Steelmaking.’
Uniper chief executive Klaus-Dieter Maubach said, “We need green electrons and green molecules if we want to achieve climate protection objectives while preserving industry in Germany.
“The Wilhelmshaven site offers all the necessary preconditions for creating Germany’s first major hydrogen hub. Large-scale hydrogen production facilities are to be built here for the purpose of decarbonising steel production in Lower Saxony. We also want to develop a solution that will enable the faster integration of the new GW-scale offshore wind into the German power grid.”
As recently highlighted by OWJ, Salzgitter recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Ørsted defining a plan that will see Ørsted supply the steel maker with electricity from offshore wind and renewable hydrogen, that it will use to make low-carbon steel. In addition, Ørsted will use low-carbon steel in future offshore windfarms.
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