Industrial hydrogen makes progress but cost and carbon questions remain
Despite industry-wide setbacks and recalibration, large-scale industrial hydrogen has made impressive steps to becoming a commercial reality in recent months.
Despite industry-wide setbacks and recalibration, large-scale industrial hydrogen has made impressive steps to becoming a commercial reality in recent months.
“Under the current conditions, there is no guarantee that we will be able to operate the plant economically in the foreseeable future,” Miguel Lopez said.
HyIron’s Oshivela plant is set to begin producing green hydrogen-based direct reduced iron (DRI) within the next month, targeting an initial output of 15,000 tonnes per year.
The plan outlines measures to protect EU steelmakers from cheap imports by accelerating grid access and prioritising clean tech investments, as well as curbing imported volumes by up to 15%.
Backed by the €300bn Global Gateway Programme, the hydrogen production unit will supply clean hydrogen for processing iron ore into hot briquetted iron (HBI) at the Vale-GEP Mega Hub.
Ed Husic, Minister for Industry and Science, said, “Demand for green metals is expected to account for a third of the global metals market in coming years, this is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss.”
The report estimates that 75% of 2030 clean hydrogen demand will come from established use cases like refining and ammonia production
Albanese’s Labor Party has indicated that the funding could support hydrogen electrolysers or battery and storage technologies.
“Importing green iron from our trading partners and allies to supplement the feed to UK and EU electric arc furnaces is the most obvious opportunity that is simply not getting publicly discussed.”
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said, “There’s no point in producing hydrogen if there’s not a customer for it,” highlighting the government’s focus on securing the steelworks’ future with the new funding package.
