Latest news with #greensteel
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
India's finance ministry wants lower energy prices for green steel incentives, sources say
By Neha Arora NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India's finance ministry wants green hydrogen prices to soften before deciding on financial support for production of steel using clean energy, two sources familiar with the matter said, as New Delhi seeks to control inflation and its expenditure. Indian steel producers have been asking for federal incentives as the nation considers mandating the use of a certain percentage of green steel in government projects. India, the world's biggest steel producer after China and a key green house gas emitter, has been working on a green steel policy to decarbonise production of the alloy. A delay in the launch of federal financial support could slow India's energy transition plans to meet 2070 net zero goal. The steel ministry is seeking incentives from the finance ministry for decarbonisation efforts. The finance ministry has argued that high green hydrogen costs would make use of green steel unviable and 'potentially inflationary', the sources told Reuters. The deliberations between the two ministries have been slowed, as the finance ministry has cautioned against a "hasty approach," one of the sources said, declining to be identified as discussions are not public. "Steel is an intermediate product and manufacturing green steel would be costly and there is a need to have a balanced approach between growth and sustainability," the source said, referring to the finance ministry's thinking. India's finance and steel ministries did not respond to Reuters' emails seeking comments. Currently, a majority of Indian steel mills depend on coal for their blast furnace operations. The steel ministry has touted the use of green hydrogen as an alternative but high costs are a deterrent. In December, India said steel produced with carbon dioxide emissions of less than 2.2 tonne per tonne of finished steel would be defined as "green steel". Steel producers in India, the world's fastest-growing major economy, generate 2.55 metric tons of carbon dioxide per ton of crude steel produced, 38% higher than the global average of 1.85 tons, according to Global Energy Monitor. Error al recuperar los datos Inicia sesión para acceder a tu cartera de valores Error al recuperar los datos Error al recuperar los datos Error al recuperar los datos Error al recuperar los datos
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
India's finance ministry wants lower energy prices for green steel incentives, sources say
NEW DELHI, June 4 (Reuters) - India's finance ministry wants green hydrogen prices to soften before deciding on financial support for production of steel using clean energy, two sources familiar with the matter said, as New Delhi seeks to control inflation and its expenditure. Indian steel producers have been asking for federal incentives as the nation considers mandating the use of a certain percentage of green steel in government projects. India, the world's biggest steel producer after China and a key green house gas emitter, has been working on a green steel policy to decarbonise production of the alloy. A delay in the launch of federal financial support could slow India's energy transition plans to meet 2070 net zero goal. The steel ministry is seeking incentives from the finance ministry for decarbonisation efforts. The finance ministry has argued that high green hydrogen costs would make use of green steel unviable and 'potentially inflationary', the sources told Reuters. The deliberations between the two ministries have been slowed, as the finance ministry has cautioned against a "hasty approach," one of the sources said, declining to be identified as discussions are not public. "Steel is an intermediate product and manufacturing green steel would be costly and there is a need to have a balanced approach between growth and sustainability," the source said, referring to the finance ministry's thinking. India's finance and steel ministries did not respond to Reuters' emails seeking comments. Currently, a majority of Indian steel mills depend on coal for their blast furnace operations. The steel ministry has touted the use of green hydrogen as an alternative but high costs are a deterrent. In December, India said steel produced with carbon dioxide emissions of less than 2.2 tonne per tonne of finished steel would be defined as "green steel". Steel producers in India, the world's fastest-growing major economy, generate 2.55 metric tons of carbon dioxide per ton of crude steel produced, 38% higher than the global average of 1.85 tons, according to Global Energy Monitor.
Zawya
7 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
US firm to build hydrogen plant for 'green steel' in Algeria
The US-based Hecate Energy will join hands with Tosyali Algerie, one of Africa's largest steel manufacturers with facilities in Oran in northwest Algeria, to build a large green hydrogen plant to support the production of green steel in the North African nation. Newspapers in the OPEC nation said the project was the theme of talks on Wednesday between representatives of the two companies and Rachid Hachichi, Director General of Algeria's state oil operator Sonatrach. They quoted Sonatrach as saying in a statement that the 'integrated green hydrogen project' would be based on studies conducted in 2024 by those two firms. A new memorandum of understanding (MOU) is expected to be signed between Sonatrach, Algeria's state owned Sonelgaz company, Hecate and Tosyali enabling the implementation of this integrated project, the statement said. It said the project would be executed in two phases, the first of which will be for completing studies aimed at assessing the project's feasibility and profitability. 'The second phase will focus on the construction of the project, which will contribute to achieving the goals in the field of energy transition,' the statement added without mentioning project cost, location and production capacity. Algeria, a major gas producer, has launched plans to develop renewable energy and green hydrogen projects as part of a strategy to trim reliance on conventional electricity and save fossil fuels for export. Officials said the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) are sponsoring the relevant studies, which cost around 28 million euros ($32 million). The plan focuses on building institutional and technical capacities in the field of renewable energy, creating appropriate conditions for implementing renewable energy projects and providing tools for developing the green hydrogen economy, they said. It also includes establishing an information database on national potential for green hydrogen applications, in addition to providing planning and monitoring tools to achieve energy savings and reduce emissions. Algeria aims to increase the share of renewable sources in its energy mix to nearly 27 percent by 2026 with the production of around 15 gigawatts (GW). The level is set to grow further in the next five years. In 2024, six European and Algerian energy companies joined forces to assess the feasibility of large-scale green hydrogen production in Algeria and its transport to Europe through the planned 'SoutH2 Corridor' project. The 3,300-km hydrogen pipeline aims to connect North Africa with Italy, Austria, and Germany, potentially supplying 40 percent of Europe's hydrogen import target by 2030. (Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
The Guardian
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Why a new zero-carbon UK steel plant offers hope and a headache
The ironworks in Saudi Arabia's coastal city of Dammam has had an unusual journey: it has crossed the Atlantic Ocean – twice. It was moved to Saudi Arabia in 2006 from Alabama, US. Before that, the plant's home was in the UK. The plant can produce about 1m tonnes a year of direct reduced iron (DRI), a material that can be used in green steel production. Decades after the plant left the UK – shipped in 28,000 pieces – British ministers are now considering reversing course and funding a similar facility once again. However, the government's DRI ambition is controversial within the British steel sector; the lobby group UK Steel told the Guardian that a DRI plant was not its priority. Senior industry insiders said they were concerned that hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayer money may be spent on funding a 'white elephant'. The government last month recalled parliament to pass emergency legislation to take control of British Steel's two blast furnaces at Scunthorpe, amid concerns its Chinese owner, Jingye, was days away from closing it. The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, and the industry minister Sarah Jones said the effective takeover was necessary to preserve the UK's ability to produce 'virgin' or primary steel from iron ore. The Scunthorpe blast furnaces, known as Queen Anne and Queen Bess, are the last two operating in the UK. However, despite receiving materials supplies for several months, they are running out of time, and ministers are hoping to find a way of retaining primary steelmaking abilities. Blast furnaces use the carbon in coal to strip oxygen from iron ore. That process eventually results in carbon dioxide being vented into the atmosphere, where it heats the globe. Many steel companies are switching to much-cleaner electric arc furnaces, which use electricity to melt down scrap steel. However, they cannot produce iron from iron ore. That is where DRI could come in. The process strips out the ore's oxygen using gas. While the vast majority of DRI uses methane, resulting in carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere, switching to using green hydrogen could allow iron production without significant emissions. Ministers have repeatedly cited DRI as a strong contender to receive part of a £2.5bn fund for a new steel strategy. Reynolds last month told parliament: 'Direct reduced iron technology is of significant potential interest to us for the future.' Yet, within the industry the idea is seen as a lower priority than reducing energy costs and preventing a flood of metal imports diverted to avoid Donald Trump's tariffs, according to lobby group UK Steel and several industry executives. Several executives and industry experts have raised significant doubts over whether a new UK DRI plant, costing up to £2bn to build, would provide good value for money. The owners of the two biggest steelworks, Tata Steel at Port Talbot, Wales, and British Steel at Scunthorpe, are not thought to be interested in sourcing the huge DRI supplies that would justify a plant. Other, smaller producers such as Celsa in Cardiff and Liberty Steel at Rotherham could use DRI, but do not need to. UK Steel said it would be better to focus on reducing sky-high energy costs at existing plants to match rates in France and Germany than on subsidising an expensive new facility. As the Saudi plant's trajectory shows, DRI plants have tended, like much heavy industry, to cluster in countries with abundant, cheap energy. The UK has some of the highest industrial energy prices in the world. 'The UK steel industry is in crisis, facing uncompetitive market conditions, shrinking demand, and global trade pressures,' UK Steel said. 'While the steel strategy is an opportunity to formulate a long-term vision for the sector, the government must also assess how its finite resources are best allocated at this point in time. Addressing urgent issues like electricity prices and trade defence must clearly take priority in order to put our sector on a sustainable footing.' The trade body said that efforts to assess how to meet future demand for steel would include assessing the need for – and viability of – a UK DRI plant, adding: 'Energy costs and access to affordable hydrogen will underpin this assessment, balanced against investing in new capabilities, energy efficiency, and productivity improvements.' Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion UK Steel said there would be an 'opportunity cost' to spending on DRI, while still remaining reliant on imports for iron ore. The government's steel council, which brings together ministers, unions and businesses, discussed DRI in detail during the British Steel crisis, to the frustration of some in industry. 'It'll just become a white elephant,' said one senior figure in the industry. New DRI plants usually only employ about 200 people. However, union leaders and many MPs believe that virgin steel is crucial either for making weapons in case of war, or for economic resilience in crises such as pandemics. Saudi Arabia is the only member of the G20 group of developed economies that does not have blast furnaces to make iron for steel production. But its two DRI plants mean it could theoretically, at a pinch, keep producing iron and therefore steel. Alasdair McDiarmid, the assistant general secretary at Community, a union representing UK steelworkers, said there was a strong case for DRI investment. 'Investment in DRI can make our steel greener and more competitive, while maintaining the UK's primary steelmaking capability, which is so crucial in our volatile world,' he said. 'DRI is fully compatible with electric arc furnaces and would make them more sustainable by delivering a secure, homegrown supply of metallics, and allowing for the future adoption of hydrogen-based steelmaking.' The UK government is awaiting a report on DRI by the Materials Processing Institute, a Middlesbrough-based research organisation, which is expected to recommend DRI as necessary to maintain primary steelmaking. Ministers will have to weigh up whether to heavily subsidise a plant to attract a private-sector investor. 'People see it as a bit of a red herring,' said one industry leader. 'Stop going on about this DRI stuff. If you've got limited resources, you would probably do something else.'
The Independent
20-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
India's steel expansion threatens climate goals and global efforts to clean up industry: report
India's plans to double steel production by the end of the decade could jeopardize its national climate goals and a key global target to reduce planet-heating gas emissions from the steel industry, according to a report released Tuesday. The report by Global Energy Monitor, an organization that tracks energy projects around the globe, said efforts to decarbonize steelmaking are gaining traction around the world. However, in India, which is the world's second largest steel-producing nation, overwhelming reliance on coal-based technologies presents a big challenge. 'India is now the bellwether of global steel decarbonization,' said Astrid Grigsby-Schulte, project manager of the Global Iron and Steel Tracker at GEM and report co-author. 'If the country does not increase its plans for green steel production, the entire sector will miss an important milestone. So goes India, so goes the world.' Currently, up to 12% of India's greenhouse gas emissions, which go into the atmosphere and heat the planet, come from steelmaking. That number could double in five years if steel is produced in line with the government's plans, according to the report. At the same time, India wants to produce 500 gigawatts of clean power — enough to power nearly 300 million Indian homes — by the end of this decade. The South Asian nation recently crossed the milestone of installing 100 gigawatts of solar power, most of which was installed in the last 10 years. By 2070, India also aims to go net zero, that is, it will either eliminate all carbon dioxide pollution it emits or cancel it out by using other methods, such as planting trees that absorb carbon. Steel production is one of the most carbon polluting industries, responsible for nearly 9% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The International Energy Agency has set a target for 37% of global steelmaking capacity to rely on lower-emission electric arc furnaces by 2030. Current projections by GEM show the world reaching just 36% — a shortfall largely due to India's coal-heavy pipeline. India plans to expand its steel production capacity from 200 million to over 330 million tonnes per year by 2030. According to the new data, over 40% of global capacity in development — about 352 million tonnes per annum — is in India, with more than half of that using coal-based capacity. 'India is the only major steel-producing nation that has so much coal-based capacity in the pipeline,' said Henna Khadeeja, a research analyst with GEM who also worked on the report. India's steel sector releases approximately 2.6 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of steel, roughly 25% more than the global average. China, the world's largest steelmaker, has managed to keep its emissions lower per ton by producing more scrap-based steel and retiring older coal-based plants. India's heavy dependence on coal for steelmaking is driven by a combination of factors: low-cost domestic coal, a relatively young fleet of blast furnaces that still have 20–25 years of operational life left, and a lack of natural gas and steel scrap. The country's scrap recycling ecosystem remains informal, and high-quality iron ore is scarce. 'There is potential for India to change course,' said Khadeeja of GEM. 'Much of the planned capacity is still on paper. Only 8% of it has actually broken ground. This means there is still a window to shift toward lower-emission technologies.' The consequences of producing carbon polluting steel may go beyond climate goals. While India's steel exports are only a small share of its overall production, they could suffer as major markets like the European Union begin enforcing carbon border taxes next year. 'India may be better off tolerating some short-term pain of technological upgrading to make its steel cleaner for long-term competitiveness gain,' said Easwaran Narassimhan of the New Delhi-based think tank Sustainable Futures Collaborative. ___ Follow Sibi Arasu on X at @sibi123 ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
