Salzgitter And Ewe Collaborate For Sustainable Steel Production With Green Hydrogen

German energy service provider EWE, based in Oldenburg, and the steel producer, Salzgitter AG have announced their intention to collaborate on hydrogen projects and initiatives.

This collaboration was announced by the CEOs of both companies, Stefan Dahler (EWE) and Gunnar Groebler (Salzgitter AG), during the Handelsblatt-Wasserstoffgipfel in Salzgitter, where they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) outlining the details of the partnership.

EWE is planning to deploy up to 400 MW of electrolysers at sites near the German North Sea coast and produce up to 40,000 tons of green hydrogen per year which will be stored in cavern facilities. The electrolysis capacity could be raised further over the next ten years, as needed, to reach the gigawatt scale.

Salzgitter, which is one of Europe's largest steelmakers, will use the green hydrogen to be supplied by EWE to convert its crude steel production to low-carbon steel production. The group plans to complete this process in three stages by 2033 as part of SALCOS project.

Salzgitter's chief executive Gunnar Groebler estimates that 95% of the previous annual emissions of 8 million tons of carbon dioxide will be offset through the utilisation of renewable hydrogen.

The steel producer has already several deals for green power supply in place such as a 114-MW PPA for the Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm and a three-year PPA with Engie Deutschland for the supply of 250 GWh of green electricity annually.

In a separate statement, German industry still needs help with high electricity prices, the head of the country's second-largest steelmaker Salzgitter said on Wednesday, arguing that without support it would not be possible to finance a shift to clean technologies.

Steel is responsible for 30pct of Germany's industrial greenhouse emissions.

The materials and information on this article have been prepared or assembled by Viet Nam Steel and are intended for informational purposes only.