German steel giant Salzgitter recently announced that they have commissioned EPC contractor Andritz to build a 100-megawatt green hydrogen plant designed to provide hydrogen for steelmaking. The move is part of Salzgitter’s decarbonization plan to reduce emissions from steel production.

The green hydrogen plant, built by ANDRITZ, will use electrolyzer technology, with 18 5.5-MW pressurized alkaline electrolyzers supplied by Norway's HydrogenPro. According to reports, the company reached an agreement with ANDRITZ in April this year to cooperate on green hydrogen projects in Europe.

Salzgitter has committed 1 billion euros to this decarbonization plan and received an additional 1 billion euros in government subsidies. The plan aims to reduce emissions from the company's steel production by 95% by 2033 and includes directly replacing coal-fired blast furnaces with hydrogen fuel. In addition, the company plans to convert its facilities to use green hydrogen starting from the end of 2025, with the goal of producing 1.9 million tons of green steel per year.

The newly built 100 MW electrolysis plant will be located at the Salzgitter Flachstahl site and is expected to produce 9,000 tons of green hydrogen per year starting in 2026. However, it is unclear whether this local production will be the only source of supply.

It is worth noting that a green steel plant in Boden, developed by Sweden's H2 Green Steel, aims to produce 2.5 million tons of crude steel in its first phase, which is 1.3 times the capacity of Salcos's first phase, but has already been ordered 7 times the electrolysis capacity. In response, comments from senior Salzgitter management suggested that part of the hydrogen volume from the German project could be transported via hydrogen pipelines.

“In order for us to reduce the CO2 footprint of steel production in the future, we must connect to the emerging hydrogen infrastructure as quickly as possible,” said Ulrich Grethe, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Salzgitter Flachstahl. “This is the only way we can exploit the full potential of Salzgitter Flachstahl. In this regard , policymakers are now also called upon to remove bureaucratic barriers and accelerate the development of hydrogen infrastructure."

This announcement underlines Salzgitter’s commitment to green hydrogen as a key strategy to achieve decarbonization goals. At the same time, this also reflects the efforts of the European steel industry in pursuing sustainable development and low carbon emissions. Editor/Xu Shengpeng