A new green steel venture in Sweden has been launched with bold plans to start production as early as 2024.The H2 Green Steel initiative will then scale-up to 5 million tons per year of green steel production. It would be the world’s first large-scale green steel producer, with a total of €2.5 billion ($3.04 billion) of investment planned. Strategic investors already secured include the EU-backed incubator and investor EIT InnoEnergy. According to EIT InnoEnergy, Series A equity funding of €50 million ($60.7 million) is ready to close. Backers include Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek, truck maker Scania and SMS Group, a toolmaker for the metals sector. Ikea-linked mission-based investor the IMAS Foundation and Vargas Holding are also onboard. Further equity rounds and green project finance will be used to raise the full €2.5 billion, an EIT InnoEnergy spokesperson told GTM. Doing a Northvolt The ambition is similar to that of Swedish greenfield battery manufacturer Northvolt. The battery maker has developed a full-scale greenfield manufacturing business in less than five years of operations. The firm has raised more than €3 billion ($3.6 billion) for its gigafactories in Sweden, Germany and Poland with major strategic investment from its customer base along the way. Vargas chief Carl-Erik Lagercrantz, who has been appointed chairman of the board of H2 Green Steel, holds the same position at Northvolt. The facility will use green hydrogen to process the iron into steel and will lean on existing expertise in the region. One component of the green steel business case is access to Sweden’s ample renewable energy resources. Its site in Boden-Luleå in northern Sweden already hosts a major seaport and an established traditional steel-making sector. “The H2 Green Steel initiative has the scale, ambition, innovative business model and implementation team to become a flagship of Europe’s... |