BP And Thyssenkrupp Steel Sign MoU On Supply Of RE In Steel Production

British Oil major BP and German metal working giant Thyssenkrupp Steel have signed an MoU to ensure long-term supply of low carbon hydrogen and renewable power for steel production. Among the renewable options for both the companies are blue hydrogen, green hydrogen, wind and solar generation through solar purchase agreements. Steel accounts for 8-11% of global CO2 emissions and this figure is rather too big for comfort. Producing 11mn tonnes of crude steel per year at present, Thyssenkrupp Steel’s target is 400,000 tonnes of CO2-reduced steel by 2025. Similarly, BP is working to pursue green hydrogen ‎production at its refineries in Lingen in Germany, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and Castellon in Spain. ‎It is developing both blue and green hydrogen production projects around the world.

Accounting for 2.5% of CO2 emissions in Germany, BP plans to make steel production climate-neutral in the long term by replacing the coal with low-carbon hydrogen. William Lin, BP’s executive vice president, said the steel and energy industries have long been closely linked. “We provide fuel and feedstock for steel production while our platforms, pipelines, and turbine towers are made from steel. Thyssenkrupp Steel has the ambition to make its steel production climate-neutral by 2045 and low carbon power and hydrogen will play a critical role in achieving that. With our aligned ambitions and complementary investments, Thyssenkrupp Steel and BP can together help this hard-to-abate sector decarbonise faster.”

Similarly, BP is also busy investing in hydrogen projects at large scale in order to improve its portfolio as carbon-neutral in Germany, Spain, Netherlands and Australia. Dr Arnd Köfler, Chief Technology Officer at Thyssenkrupp Steel, said, “the decarbonisation of the steel industry will require enormous quantities of low-carbon. This will increasingly require the use of electricity from renewable sources. All this can only be achieved through a well-developed hydrogen infrastructure with a supra-regional pipeline network. The MoU is an important milestone for us to set the course with bp for a reliable supply of energy in the future.”