Visit to Sweden
Stockholm / Luleå, 30 March – 1 April 2022
Visit to SSAB / Hybrit (Luleå)
10.15-12.45
Venue: SSAB, Svartövägen 20, Luleå
Welcomed by:
of steel producer SSAB;
[4.1.B]
of iron ore company LKAB;
at energy provider Vattenfall (and
Hybrit Board). You will travel to Luleå on the same flight as
Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson, Minister for Industry.
Format: all will have to change into protective shoes, helmet and vest.
The visit will include a blase furnace and the Hybrit pilot plant. Transports
at the venue will be organised by SSAB. A light lunch will be served
before leaving SSAB.
Note: A few major Swedish newspaper will be present: Dagens Industri
(
), Dagens Nyheter (
),
(freelance EU
Affairs journalist), Miljömagasinet (
)
Topics: with Hybrit technology, SSAB aims to be the first steel company
in the world to bring fossil-free steel to the market already in 2026.
Together with its partners and customers, SSAB aims to create a fossil-
free value chain, from the mine to the end-product.
EC delegation (same throughout the visit):
Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President
Mr Christian Danielsson, Head of EC Rep. in Sweden
Daniel Mes, Member of Cabinet
Estela Pineiro-Kruik, Member of Cabinet
, DG CLIMA
, Security officer
SE delegation:
Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson, Minister for Industry
SSAB
LKAB
, Vattenfall (
Hybrit Board)
, SSAB
, LKAB
,
,
Vattenfall
,
, SSAB
,
, SSAB
Objectives
Highlight that the European Innovation Fund is contributing to this project. In fact, the
Innovation Fund is financing two large-scale and four small-scale projects in Sweden.
Highlight the strong innovation eco-system in Sweden.
Topics for discussion
1/14
Visit to Sweden
Stockholm / Luleå, 30 March – 1 April 2022
Main messages
We welcome your investments in highly innovative fossil-free steel to develop green
ironmaking technologies that are not yet widely distributed.
Green steel is an alternative variant of steel that can be produced using green
hydrogen generated from renewable energy sources rather than natural gas.
We also encourage the EU automotive industry to use green steel for building cars and
decarbonising them further to reach our objective of climate neutrality.
Background
Hybrit (Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology) is a Swedish joint venture owned
by SSAB (global leader in high strength steels), LKAB (Europe’s largest iron ore producer)
and Vattenfall AB (one of Europe’s largest electricity producers). Its mission is to
revolutionise the steelmaking technology by replacing the coal-based blast furnace
process with a direct reduction process, based on fossil-free hydrogen. In fact, the new
technology replaces coking coal, traditionally needed for ore-based steel making, with
renewable electricity and hydrogen. [NB. Steel production using coal accounts for around
8% of global GHG emissions].
Hybrit started test operations at its pilot plant for green steel in Luleå in 2020. Hybrit
recently did the world’s first delivery of green steel to truck-maker Volvo AB as a trial run,
before full commercial production in 2026. The project will produce approximately 1.2 Mt
crude steel annually, representing 25% of Sweden’s production. This wil reduce GHG
emissions by 14.3 Mt CO2 over the first 10 years of operation. The Hyrbit technology has
the potential to reduce Sweden’s total carbon dioxide emissions by at least 10%. The
ambition is to be the first fossil-free steel producer already in 2026 and to create a fossil-
free value chain, from the mine to the end-product.
The Hybrit project received funding from the EU Innovation Fund as well as from the
Swedish government. Furthermore, the project ambition is to expand further in the value
chain by including hydrogen storage. In May 2021, construction of a storage facility for
fossil-free hydrogen started on a pilot scale, next to Hybrit’s pilot for direct reduction. The
large-scale hydrogen facility aims to operate a 500 MW fossil-free electrolysis in Gällivare.
The project is currently on the list of Hydrogen IPCEI. Furthermore, two blast furnaces are
replaced by an electric furnace in Oxelösund.
Topics for discussion
2/14
Visit to Sweden
Stockholm / Luleå, 30 March – 1 April 2022
Other green steel projects in Sweden
Another green steel venture, created in 2020, is H2 Green Steel. The company is planning
to build a fossil-free steel plant in the north of Sweden, including a sustainable hydrogen
facility, with production starting in 2024. H2 Green Steel will manufacture green flat carbon
steel products targeting mainly the automotive, construction, white goods, industrial
equipment and energy sectors. It has attracted major European steel off-takers (i.a.
Maersk, Marcegaglia, Mercedes-Benz AG, Scania, SMS Group, Stena Metall). The start
of construction is planned in 2022 and the start of operation in 2025. The project in
northern Sweden will create 3,000 job (direct 1,800, indirect 1,200). Note that the
of
H2 Green Steel reached out for a meeting but this was impossible to schedule so he
might see Diederik in his upcoming visit to Brussels.
CV of Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson,
Minister for Business, Industry and Innovation of Sweden
.
Topics for discussion
3/14
Out of scope
Out of scope
Out of scope
Out of scope
Out of scope
Out of scope
Out of scope
Out of scope
Out of scope
Out of scope
Out of scope
