Green steel production depends on resolving issues related to energy costs and electricity production, according to Saarstahl’s chief executive and chairman of SHS, Stefan Rauber.
He told the Green Steel Challenge podcast, co-produced by Kallanish, that he has no doubt that they will “get this thing running”, but Europe needs a common plan for this process.
The company’s first phase aims to put new DRI and EAF facilities into full operation, producing roughly 3.5 million tonnes of carbon-reduced steel annually by 2028–2029.
“To produce green steel, you have to be competitive, which depends on several things,” he said. “Are we doing our homework and is the political framework created in a way that makes things for competitive industry possible, because we already face too many challenges,” he questioned.
This includes electricity and hydrogen prices in the future, CBAM, which has to be an effective instrument and maintaining existing trade measures against chip imports.
Securing critical raw material supply is also very important, with the company already increasing its purchases of ferrous scrap, he added.
“We need a European plan not only for the steel industry, but also for the entire industry in Europe,” Rauber noted. “Europeans are building more and more wind farms and solar parks for the production of electricity and we need more.”
He also noted the concerns over natural gas supplies, which have become crucial due to the war in Ukraine and the stopped Russian supplies.
“To solve this problem, you need to have a plan and I would like to see that plan,” he added.
According to him, nuclear energy would also solve many issues after recent sector innovation. “It’s a difficult question in Germany, because we are closing down such capacities after the politicians decided this, but we use now nuclear power from France. And in Belgium they are building new nuclear plants, so it is a serious dilemma,” he claims.
“Energy prices are directly connected to hydrogen prices and to the future of decarbonisation,” the ceo noted. “I think that currently this is an underestimated problem in Europe. In the end we need competitive international prices in all European countries, because now they are very different in every state in the region.”
To divert from traditional steel output to green production it is a long engineering process, but it is forming the future and is happening right now, he said.
