Green Steel

ARENA has awarded global technology company Calix $947,035 (USD 612,509) to help fund an eleven-month study into the feasibility of deploying the company’s proprietary Zero Emissions Steel Technology (ZESTY) at a demonstration plant – something both Calix and ARENA are touting as a pathway to green steel manufacturing using hydrogen in Australia.

Indian renewable energy developer Serentica Renewables plans to install and commission 1.5 GW of solar and wind capacity in 24 months to serve energy-intensive industries in the Asian nation.

South Australia’s Whyalla, the site of the state’s government-backed hydrogen hub, has begun producing a vital component used to make green steel: magnetite concentrate. The steelworks is owned by billionaire steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta through his global company GFG Alliance. Gupta has described magnetite concentrate as “a critical enabler of our global green steel strategy.”

Less than a year after agreeing to work with Australian steel company BlueScope, Shell is now stepping back from the plan develop a pilot-scale 10 MW green hydrogen electrolyser at the Port Kembla Steelworks and further the vision for a hydrogen hub in the Illawarra.

Resources giant Rio Tinto has officially opened what it is calling its most technologically advanced mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The Gudai-Darri iron ore mine features a 34 MW solar farm capable of meeting one-third of the facility’s energy needs.

The New South Wales government has invited registrations of interest from renewable generators, energy storage and network developers, and existing and proposed energy loads, to participate in shaping a renewable energy zone to be established in the Illawarra region on the state’s south coast.

BlueScope Steel, the country’s largest steelmaker, will partner with its local university in Wollongong and Future Fuels CRC to undertake a 13 month research project investigating options for decarbonising its operations at the Port Kembla Steelworks.

A report published by IRENA hints the world’s politicians will have to get to work immediately to avoid another generation of fossil fuel-fired hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol plants being set up to run into the second half of the century.

BlueScope Steel, the country’s largest steelmaker, is refining and progressing its plans to decarbonise its steel making process – considered to be one of the greatest opportunities for green hydrogen use.

Green hydrogen is being proposed for an ever-wider variety of uses. While some of these are still a way off, others make little sense. But there are sectors where demand for green hydrogen is a reality today, writes Christian Roselund.