Dillinger develops new steels for offshore towers
Dillinger has developed new steel types suited for monopiles, the steel towers for offshore wind turbines, Kallanish learns from the platemaker.
The research was carried out with materials scientists from Saarland University, mechanical engineers from RWTH Aachen University, and other partners in high-performance steel plate project.
The properties of the new steels enable them to withstand storms, waves and aggressive saltwater for many years, yet can still be produced economically, Dillinger says. They are suited for high-energy submerged arc welding and electron beam welding, which significantly shortens production times for processors.
“These high-performance welding processes are increasingly being used in large-scale industrial production for welding-intensive steel applications,” says Sebastian Scholl, Dillinger’s research and development project manager.
“Particularly in the case of monopiles, joints stretching for kilometres are required due to the huge size of the structures with large sheet thicknesses. Such a process requires materials that can withstand the enormous temperature influences during the joining process,” he explains.
The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection and recently concluded after almost four years.
Christian Koehl Germany
Dillinger, Sif team up to make monopiles fully circular low carbon
German steel producer Dillinger has signed an addendum to an existing deal with design engineering company Sif to supply its lower-emission heavy-plate steel for offshore wind foundations, the companies said May 16.
By signing the “green steel” addendum to the plate supply framework agreement, Dillinger and Sif said they have detailed the transition to supplying low carbon steel plates for Sif’s new and enhanced XXXL monopile factory, with the deal aiming to achieve full circularity of the monopiles.
“This agreement is key to decarbonizing materials such as steel. With this addendum and the MoU between Sif Decom and Dillinger, the partners support development of lower-emission steel manufacturing and circularity of materials used in offshore wind foundations,” Sif CEO Fred van Beers said.
“We are very proud of this future-focused collaboration with Sif,” Dillinger chair Stefan Rauber said. “Our steel plates from Dillinger, which in future will be produced with reduced CO2 emissions, are the basis for monopiles and wind farms where renewable energies are generated.”
Starting in 2027/2028, SHS and its subsidiaries Dillinger, Saarstahl and ROGESA plan to produce up to 3.5 million mt/year CO2-reduced steel under the PURE STEEL+ brand. By 2045, the entire production volume of the company’s crude steel is set to be carbon-neutral.
Many companies in different industries across the steel value chain are buying increasing volumes of low-carbon “green” steel to reduce their scope 2 and 3 emissions, closing offtake supply agreements to secure low-carbon raw materials.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, launched its carbon-accounted price assessments in May 2023, following the market trend of strengthening lower-carbon steel demand.
Platts assessed Northwest European hot-rolled carbon-accounted coil stable on the day at Eur765/mt ($832/mt) ex-works Ruhr on May 15.
The assessment was calculated in line with the sum of Platts daily carbon-accounted steel premium (CASP) assessment and Platts daily hot-rolled coil price assessment in Northwest Europe.
Annalisa Villa
