It has been only a few months that another ambitious venture emerged in Scandinavia, established last year with the aim of becoming an integrated green steel producer leveraging Nordic advantages. Early this year, Norway-based Blastr announced that it has selected a site in Finland.
It has entered into a Letter of Intent with Nordic energy company Fortum that provides exclusive rights to utilise an existing industrial site located in Inkoo, Finland. The investment is estimated to amount to €4 billion, and expected to create up to 1,200 direct jobs in the operations phase. Production is planned to start by end of 2026.
One of the largest industrial investments in Finland
“Finland is an ideal location for our project. Inkoo was selected as our location due to its high-quality infrastructure and access to clean power. In addition, the ice-free deep-sea harbour enables efficient, low-carbon logistics all year round and close access to the European market,” says Hans Fredrik Wittusen, CEOof Blastr Green Steel. He adds that the venture will systematically address all parts of the value chain to reduce overall carbon footprint, reduce waste and develop circular solutions.
The green steel plant together with the integrated hydrogen facility will be among the largest industrial investments planned in Finland to date. It is projected to produce 2.5 million tonnes of high-quality hot and cold-rolled green steel annually.
Cooperation with Cargill Metal
In November, Blastr entered the public eye with a cooperation agreement with Cargill Metal for the sourcing of raw materials. The agreement foresees that Cargill Metals will bring expertise in raw materials sourcing, and its global capabilities in ocean transportation and logistics, as well as development of green products for market, risk management and financing.
Blastr is backed by Vanir Green Industries, a Nordic investment company that invests in, develops and scales green, robust and profitable businesses for the energy transition. It is the second such venture in Scandinavia to build a hydrogen-based steel mill after H2 Green Steel in Sweden.
“Our ambition is to secure a significant share of our power needs from directly or indirectly owned wind parks, contributing through own investments and partnerships to advance clean energy production in Finland. We believe that our project will provide positive benefits for the region, and we will engage in an active dialogue and cooperation with the local community and other stakeholders,” Wittusen says.
The people behind Blastr previously worked for Nordic companies like LKAB, Outokumpu, Norsk Hydro, or Elkem.
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Hans Fredrik Wittusen, CEO
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Incoming CTO Mikael Lindvall
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Incoming Managing Director of Blastr Green Steel Oy (Finland) Antti Kaikkonen
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Incoming EVP Nordics Viktor Forss
(source: Blastr Green Steel/Foto Bakery)
separat:
Blastr Green Steel is dedicated to decarbonising the steel value chain. This is planned to be done by replacing coke and coal with hydrogen in the chemical reduction phase, and by reducing the COշ footprint along the entire value chain by utilising local raw materials and fossil-free energy. The aim is to cut emissions of Blastr´s end products by 95% compared to the conventional process.
think.steel: There is an obvious comparison with H2 Green Steel. Is Blastr essentially following the same idea? Are there remarkable differences?
Hans Fredrik Wittusen: H2GS and Blastr Green Steel have in common that their technology development approach will be working in close cooperation with technology providers, academia, research institutes (Swerim), and consulting companies in order to design a steel plant using hydrogen to replace coal and coke in the chemical reduction process. However, H2GS is not doing its own pelletising as Blastr plans to do. Furthermore, Blastr plans to utilise green logistics from the supply of iron ore to the pelletising plant, from pelletising plant to the green steel plant to Inkoo, and from Inkoo to the European market.
Blastr is founded and backed by Vanir Green Industries (“VGI”). What projects has VGI accompanied? Has it been linked with steel projects so far?
In addition to Blastr, the VGI portfolio consists of the following companies:
- Removr established in 2021 is developing solutions for capturing and storing CO₂ at industrial scale. First industrial scale pilot is already designed and will be built in Iceland and operated from 2023.
- Freija is developing technology for producing green methanol
- Njordr focuses on onshore and offshore wind power projects. Njordr´s subsidiary Nordi develops renewable energy projects in Finland. Njordr’s wind project portfolio under development in the Nordics is app. 10,000 MW.
- The VGI Board has extensive experience of large-scale steel value chains.
What kind of companies would you invite/address as possible partners or investors?
We are discussing with several investor categories, including industrial players, infrastructure funds, and private equity.
What volume and what products are you targeting?
The Inkoo plant is planned to produce 2.5 million tonnes of high-quality hot and cold-rolled green steel strip annually.
