UK’s Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has reported that the UK is falling further behind in the race to develop green steel plants, after ECIU found that in 2021, the UK had zero planned green steel projects, compared to 23 in the EU and overall UK has 1 project compared to 38 in the EU, says Edie. Does the Chancellor have something up his sleeve to ensure the UK doesn’t fall further behind on steel, questions Mr. Jess Ralston, energy analyst at ECIUAround 10 EU plants have started producing green steel with renewable energy and green hydrogen, made through electrolysis from renewable electricity and producing no emissions. Since 2021, the number of these green steel projects has doubled, either in the form of new sites or older ones switching from blue hydrogen in the past two years.The UK, on the other hand, has one planned project at British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant which is part of the Zero Carbon Humber initiative. The project would use blue hydrogen combined with carbon capture technologies.At the start of the year, it emerged that the UK Government was planning two grants of £ 300M each for British Steel and Tata Steel, with requirements to cut carbon. It is also allegedly set to consult on a carbon border tax for steel.British Steel has previously pressed for up to £ 1B of Government support to adopt technologies that will enable it to align with the UK’s legally binding net-zero carbon target for 2050. Tata Steel is reportedly pricing the transition of its Port Talbot steelworks to net-zero at up to £ 3B.
UK’s Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has reported that the UK is falling further behind in the race to develop green steel plants, after ECIU found that in 2021, the UK had zero planned green steel projects, compared to 23 in the EU and overall UK has 1 project compared to 38 in the EU, says Edie. Does the Chancellor have something up his sleeve to ensure the UK doesn’t fall further behind on steel, questions Mr. Jess Ralston, energy analyst at ECIUAround 10 EU plants have started producing green steel with renewable energy and green hydrogen, made through electrolysis from renewable electricity and producing no emissions. Since 2021, the number of these green steel projects has doubled, either in the form of new sites or older ones switching from blue hydrogen in the past two years.The UK, on the other hand, has one planned project at British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant which is part of the Zero Carbon Humber initiative. The project would use blue hydrogen combined with carbon capture technologies.At the start of the year, it emerged that the UK Government was planning two grants of £ 300M each for British Steel and Tata Steel, with requirements to cut carbon. It is also allegedly set to consult on a carbon border tax for steel.British Steel has previously pressed for up to £ 1B of Government support to adopt technologies that will enable it to align with the UK’s legally binding net-zero carbon target for 2050. Tata Steel is reportedly pricing the transition of its Port Talbot steelworks to net-zero at up to £ 3B.
