Essen, Mar. 21, (dpa/GNA) – German power company Steag has reached a deal to supply ThyssenKrupp’s steelworks in Duisburg with green hydrogen, the companies announced jointly on Monday.
According to the agreement, a water electrolysis plant with an installed capacity of up to 520 megawatts is to be built at the Steag site in Duisburg-Walsum, powered by climate-neutral generated electricity.
Thyssenkrupp also intends to use the oxygen produced during hydrogen generation as a process gas in steel production. The first hydrogen is due to be produced in 2025. A final decision on the investment is planned for 2023 at the latest.
Thyssenkrupp intends to use the hydrogen for a yet-unbuilt plant for iron production. In the so-called direct reduction installation (DRI plant), hydrogen replaces the coke previously used in blast furnaces to extract oxygen from iron ore.
A further step in the process results in the creation of pig iron, which can then be processed as before. Thyssenkrupp expects investment costs of €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) for the first DRI plant. The Steag site in Duisburg-Walsum is about 1.5 kilometres from the planned location of the DRI plant.
GNA