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Nel and Statkraft will supply hydrogen for steel production in the Mo Industrial Park, but project financing must first be secured. – Paradoxically, you have to go to Europe, says Nel’s boss.
Jon Andre Løkke, Head of Nel
Kjetil Malkenes Hovland, E24
Published:
Steel producer Celsa in Mo i Rana, Statkraft and Mo Industripark presented plans this summer to create a value chain for hydrogen.
Now Nel also joins the initiative. On Friday, the hydrogen company signed a letter of intent with Statkraft to develop a hydrogen project in the industrial park.
But first you have to finance the project.
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Must go to europe
Jon Andre Løkke, CEO of Nel, says that the companies are now working on financing the project and have applied for support from an EU program.
– The objective is to get it funded, but paradoxically you have to go to Europe because there are no financing tools available in Norway, he tells E24.
According to the manager of Nel, the support of the EU could contribute to the financing of the project.
In addition, there is a program called “Major Projects of Common European Interest” (IPCEI). This scheme was already available to the battery industry, but now the hydrogen industry has also been invited.
Løkke says Norway has not yet signed up for this scheme
– Norway should raise its hand here, but the authorities have not done so yet. So Norway could have contributed directly.
The letter of intent between Nel and Statkraft is to use electrolysis in the production of hydrogen, a process that separates hydrogen from water using electricity.
The plan is for a plant with a capacity of 40 to 50 megawatts, and that hydrogen will replace fossil energy in the reinforcing steel production process in the Mo Industrial Park, reports Nel.
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Melting steel
The Celsa steel company currently has a steel plant and a rolling mill in the industrial park. The company melts steel scrap for rebar used in concrete and other construction products.
Celsa’s plants melt around 700,000 tonnes of steel each year, which is equivalent to two Eiffel Towers per week.
The use of hydrogen in the production process will allow Celsa to produce reinforcing steel with lower climate emissions, substituting more polluting energy sources.
Currently, production generates emissions of around 100,000 tons of CO₂ per year.
Nel writes that emissions can potentially be reduced by 60 percent if green hydrogen is introduced into the process. Green hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water and runs on renewable energy.
Nel further writes that companies have also found other industrial opportunities for hydrogen in the industrial park and that they intend to increase electrolysis capacity by 2030.
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New factory
The electrolyzers for the hydrogen project will come from the new factory that Nel is building in Herøya.
– We are building a completely new production line in Herøya. All future deliveries will come from there, says Løkke.
Nel currently manufactures electrolyzers at its Notodden plant, but has significant expansion plans. The company will build a new factory at Herøya in Porsgrunn, with a capacity 12 times higher in the first instance and the plan is then for further capacity expansion.
