H2 Green Steel Signs 700-Megawatt Hydrogen Deal

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The developer behind one of the first large-scale green steel plants in Europe has ordered up to 35 water electrolyzers from thyssenkrupp nucera for its plant in Boden, northern Sweden.

Part of Germany's Thyssenkrupp (Essen), the company will supply H2 Green Steel with its 20-megawatt (MW) "scalum" electrolysis modules for carbon-free hydrogen to produce 2.5 million tons of green steel per year, with a planned ramp-up to 5 million tons by 2030. Up to 700 MW capacity of the alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) modules will be delivered. Operations are planned to start at the end of 2025, with a scheduled ramp-up in 2026. Traditional blast furnace-based technology will be replaced by direct reduction reactors using green hydrogen from the electrolyser plant, which in turn will be powered by renewable energy (hydro- and wind power). The facility is expected to reduce 95% of CO2 emissions compared to traditional steelmaking.

"The electrolysis plant in Boden will be many times bigger than most existing electrolyzer plants today," said Maria Persson Gulda, chief technology officer of H2 Green Steel. "Combining our own strong technical expertise with that of a proven high-performance and high-efficiency electrolyzer like thyssenkrupp nucera's gives us a solid head start in the growing green hydrogen economy, which we will use to transform heavy industry with its difficult-to-degrade process emissions. We're starting with steel in Boden, Sweden, but that's just the beginning."

The news comes just weeks after H2 Green Steel announced that it had secured long-term offtake deals amounting to almost 2 billion euro (US$2.1 billion). It signed a seven-year deal with Italian steel group Marcegaglia Steel worth 1.79 billion (US$1.96 billion) for the delivery of green steel from the Boden plant. For additional information, see May 8, 2023, article - Clean Steel Bonanza for Sweden's H2 Green Steel.

Dr. Christoph Noeres, head of green hydrogen at thyssenkrupp nucera, commented: "The market for green hydrogen production solutions is growing very dynamically. Companies need to reduce delivery times by continuously building up capacity, thus improving the plannability and feasibility of projects. This development is also reflected in the demand for our large-scale and highly efficient water electrolyzers with our 20 MW scalum modules. By reserving production capacities, customers can secure access to these capacities and thus a decisive competitive advantage."

thyssenkrupp nucera is also supplying its scalum modules to Europe's largest green hydrogen plant in the Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands, under development by oil major Shell Plc (NYSE:SHEL) (London, England). The Holland Hydrogen I project will cost roughly 200 million euro (US$216 million) and will be Europe's largest renewable hydrogen plant once operational in 2025. It will boast a 200-MW electrolyser that will be located on the Tweede Maasvlakte area of the port and will produce up to 60,000 kilograms of renewable hydrogen per day. The plant will be powered by the 759-MW Hollandse Kust North offshore windfarm.

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