The Swdish energy company Vattenfall and steel producer Salzgitter are pushing ahead with their joint goal of decarbonising industrial production processes. A new power purchase agreement (PPA) provides for fossil-free electricity from the Nordlicht 1 offshore wind farm to be available for steel production from 2028.
“The electricity partnership with Salzgitter underlines our long-term strategy at Vattenfall to enable a fossil-free life not only for ourselves, but also for our suppliers, partners and customers”, emphasises Martijn Hagens, responsible member of the Executive Board and Head of Markets at Vattenfall. He adds: “With our fossil-free electricity, we want to decarbonise entire value chains and support industry in particular on its path to green transformation.”
Gunnar Groebler, CEO of Salzgitter AG: “With our Salcos program, we are already in the middle of the transformation of steel production towards low-CO2 production processes, making us a leader in the steel industry. Green steel needs green energy: This agreement is therefore the next important step in securing our energy requirements for low CO2 production. With Vattenfall, we have another powerful partner at our side and we look forward to working together.”
In detail, the agreement - a so-called Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) - provides for a share of 75 megawatts of connected load from the Nordlicht 1 offshore wind farm to be made available to the Salzgitter Group over a period of 15 years. The Nordlicht 1 wind farm is currently being developed around 85 kilometres north of the island of Borkum. It is due to be completed and connected to the grid in 2028. Salzgitter will then purchase around 300 gigawatt hours of electricity per year for steelmaking processes - equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of around 120,000 households.
By Christian Jekat/Vattenfall