ArcelorMittal to get EUR 55m from German govt for hydrogen-powered steel

The German government will provide EUR 55 million (USD 65.2m) to Luxembourg-based steel giant ArcelorMittal (AMS:MT) to support the construction of an industrial-scale direct reduced iron (DRI) plant in Hamburg that will run on green hydrogen.

This was announced by environment minister Svenja Schulze on Tuesday during a visit to the Hamburg site.

ArcelorMittal Hamburg GmbH is planning to build a DRI facility at its site in the port city which will use hydrogen from renewable energy instead of natural gas to reduce iron oxide pellets to metallic iron, the raw material for high-quality steel. The financial support pledged by the federal government is half of the investments of EUR 110 million necessary for the project and is subject to approval by the European Commission.

As a member of the Hamburg Hydrogen Network, the steel company will start receiving green hydrogen from the planned 100-MW electrolysis plant in Moorburg as early as 2025 and the Hamburg plant is expected to produce more than one million tonnes of green steel, saving some 800,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.

The transformation of the steel industry is a huge challenge and the federal government will not leave the companies in the sector alone in this process, Schulze said in Hamburg. The environment ministry supports investments in climate protection through the Industry Decarbonisation Programme, the minister added.

With some 58 million tonnes of carbon emissions, the steel industry is among the big polluters, accounting for about 7% of all carbon emissions in Germany.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.186)

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