Good news for the European green steel sector as the HYBRIT initiative, a joint venture by SSAB, Vattenfall and LKAB, has been given a €143 million injection from the EU Innovation Fund.
HYBRIT and Frans Timmermans. Credit: LKAB
EU Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans visiting the HYBRIT plant. Credit: LKAB
With steel accounting for around 8% of global emissions, the race is on to bring projects such as this to an industrial scale, forging relationships with companies and reinforcing the hydrogen economy.
Read more: COP26: SSAB pledges fossil-free steel products by 2026
HYBRIT green steel is made using green hydrogen generated through electrolysis instead of the coal-fired plants traditionally used. SSAB alone accounts for roughly 10% of Sweden's emissions and 7% in neighbouring Finland and the sector is notoriously difficult to abate.
The EU Innovation Fund is designed to provide capital, resources and relationships for low-carbon projects that can help the bloc meet the goals laid out in the EU Green Deal and the Fit for 55 package, which together lay out a plan to reach net-zero by 2050.
In total, the EU is investing around €1.1 billion in seven different projects that cover a wide range of industrial sectors central to the bloc's economy.
Other projects covered under the fund include the BECCS Stockholm bioenergy carbon capture and storage plant, the Spanish Ecoplanta waste-to-methanol project, and the K6 project - French zero-carbon cement, among others.
HYBRIT is, as of now, the only iron and steel project under the first wave of the EU Innovation Fund. However, later funding waves are expected to fund other green steel projects on the continent.
“HYBRIT is paving the way for a fundamental change in the global steel industry," EU Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans said, suggesting that the rapid progress made by the venture indicates how quickly elements of the green transition can come into play.
"Now, green steel is entering the market... Green steel has the future, and that future is already here," he added.
The project's next step is to test the viability of an entire value chain based on green steel, including the scaling up of its technology to meet the increasing demand for green steel in the construction, automotive and aviation sectors, among others as well as feasibility into its new plant in Gällivare, Sweden.
“We are glad to receive this significant contribution from the EU Innovation Fund to our continued journey in transforming the iron and steel industry. Lars Ydreskog, Senior Vice President of Strategic Projects at LKAB said in a statement.
"With the upcoming plant in Gällivare, we will establish a first-of-a-kind facility and process for producing fossil-free sponge iron in industrial scale. This will demonstrate the true potential of the HYBRIT technology and pave the way for competitive production of fossil-free steel and a sustainable future,” he added.
Vattenfall, one of three major investors in the venture has pledged to see an entire green steel ecosystem "within one generation," and described HYBRIT as essential in reaching this goal.
Read more: World's first fossil-free steel produced by Sweden's HYBRIT
SSAB, on the other hand, has set itself an interim goal of significantly reducing emissions by 2030. The firm has previously stated it hopes to become the "world's first fossil-free steel company" by 2045 at the latest.
“We´d like to thank the EU Innovation Fund for their trust and confidence in the HYBRIT-initiative as well as the ability to create a completely fossil-free value chain from mine to steel," SSAB CTO Martin Pei said. "Mitigating climate change is of utmost importance and there is no time to lose."
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