Global climate goals aim to almost completely eliminate CO₂ emissions by 2050. This poses challenges for industrial enterprises and energy suppliers, and demands new technological solutions in both sectors. In this context, CO₂-neutral (“green”) hydrogen is regarded as the most promising future option for facilitating the energy transition. Now the world’s largest and most advanced electrolyser has commenced production of green hydrogen at the Voestalpine premises in Linz. The new plant has a capacity of over 6 MW, and is currently regarded as the most effective and state-of-the-art facility of its type. It will be used to test whether the technology deployed to produce green hydrogen is suitable for use on an industrial scale. Furthermore, the project, which receives € 18 million in EU funding, will investigate the potential to provide network services, and potentially compensate for fluctuations in the power grid.
As an industry pioneer in environmental protection, voestalpine is following a consistent, long-term strategy of decarbonizing the steel production process. “We have set ourselves a clear goal of greater direct avoidance of CO₂ emissions in steel manufacturing over the coming years. With the start of operations at the world’s largest hydrogen pilot plant at our site in Linz, we have succeeded in taking a significant step towards driving this technological transformation,” says Herbert Eibensteiner, Chairman of the Management Board of Voestalpine AG. In light of global climate targets, Voestalpine is currently investigating the practicality of a hybrid technology to bridge between the existing coke/coal-based blast furnace route and electric arc furnaces powered with green electricity partly generated using green hydrogen. If economically feasible, from today’s perspective this option would reduce the Group’s CO₂ emissions by around a third sometime between 2030 and 2035. Over the long-term, Voestalpine is striving to successively increase the use of green hydrogen in the steel production process, allowing the Group to reduce its CO₂ emissions by a total of over 80 % by 2050.
“The most important precondition for scenario planning based on green electricity and green hydrogen is, however, sufficient quantities of renewable energy available at commercially realistic prices. This is the only way in which we can apply tomorrow’s technologies in a truly competitive manner,” Eibensteiner adds.
_{(Source: voestalpine AG)}