Hydrogen plant to be built in Norway for Celsa steel plant
Norwegian hydrogen producer Nel and utility Statkraft have agreed to build a plant to deliver green hydrogen to a steel mill in northern Norway to replace fossil fuels.
The letter of intent, signed by the two firms, calls for the construction of a 40-50 megawatt alkaline cell plant in the industrial city of Mo i Rana, which will use renewable electricity supplied by Statkraft to produce hydrogen.
According to Nel CEO John André Locke, the project is dependent on external funding, and the partners have applied for financial support from the European Union.
The green hydrogen produced will be used by the local Celsa steel plant as an alternative to fossil fuels, reducing the carbon footprint of the process.
The large scale project is part of Nel's plans to expand its electrolyser program. Electrolyzers use electricity to decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Statkraft has already discussed expanding the use of green hydrogen with Celsa and a local industrial park in Mo i Rana by 2023, which could reduce the annual CO 2 emissions from rebar production by 60 % per 100,000 tons per year.
The cell's production capacity could be increased by 2030 to include other industrial processes, he added.
State utility Statkraft is the largest electricity producer in Norway, generating electricity mainly from hydroelectric power plants.