H2 Green Steel, Thyssenkrupp Nucera to develop Swedish electrolysis project

Swedish low carbon steel developer H2 Green Steel and Thyssenkrupp’s electrolyzer business announced May 22 that they are to jointly build an electrolysis plant to provide hydrogen for green steel production at the former’s Boden plant, in northern Sweden.

The project will use alkaline water electrolysis technology to secure capacity of more than 700 MW for H2 Green Steel’s Boden plant, the companies said.

“This electrolyzer agreement indicates a change in market dynamics and is also a proof of our new business model for reservation of production capacity,“ according to Werner Ponikwar, CEO of Germany-based water electrolysis specialist Thyssenkrupp Nucera.

Hydrogen produced at the electrolysis plant in Boden will be consumed onsite in a direct reduction process, reducing iron ore to sponge iron to produce green steel.

“The electrolysis plant in Boden will be many times bigger than most electrolyzer installations that exist today,” H2 Green Steel Chief Technology Officer Maria Persson Gulda said.

“Combining our own strong technical expertise with that of an experienced electrolysis supplier like thyssenkrupp nucera gives us a solid edge in the growing green hydrogen economy, which we will leverage to transform hard to abate industries. We start with steel in Boden, Sweden, but it’s only the beginning,” she added.

H2 Green Steel was created in 2020 with the target of accelerating the decarbonization of the steel industry, using green hydrogen. It is setting up an integrated green hydrogen plant at its Boden steel plant, with production set to start in 2025 and rise to 5 million mt/year of high-quality steel by 2030.

The agreement between H2 Green Steel and Thyssenkrupp Nucera is aligned with the timeline of starting steel output by the end of 2025, with ramp-up in 2026, H2 Green Steel said, while not giving any investment figure.

“We are not commenting on the value beyond saying multibillion SEK,” a spokesperson for H2 Green Steel said.

Platts, part of S&P Global Insights, assessed Northwest European hot-rolled coil carbon-accounted down Eur10/mt on day on May 19 at Eur820/mt ($886.58/mt) ex-works Ruhr.

Author Annalisa Villa