Skyrocketing energy costs are becoming one of the main issues affecting steelmakers globally. In Europe, the issue has been at the centre of most pricing discussions during the last two months, but now the German steelmakers federation WV Stahl also noted that this issue can hamper significantly the prospects for carbon-free steelmaking based on hydrogen.

For an annual output of 42 million tonnes, German mills use approximately 25 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity. Around two-thirds of steel output comes via the blast furnace/oxygen converter route, which consumes some 400 kilowatt hours (KWh) per tonne of steel produced. The electric arc furnace route has a higher power consumption, at 530 KWh per tonne, according to a dossier issued by the German economy ministry.

The current plans and pledges of the country’s steel industry envisage that steelmaking, along with the production of electricity needed in the process, will be based entirely on hydrogen by mid-century. But this aim requires a power consumption of 130 TWh – more than five times the amount used at present.