Germany’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck has announced a planned funding totaling €2.6 billion for zero-emission steelmaking in the state of Saarland.
The funding, which would be granted to long steel producer Saarstahl, plate producer Dillinger Hütte and their joint pig iron plant Rogesa, all three subsidiaries of Germany-based SHS (Stahl-Holding-Saar), is subject to approval from the EU competition authorities.
To achieve climate neutrality by 2045, Dillinger and Saarstahl are focused on the use of hydrogen, on electric steel production and on recycling steel scrap. In addition, SHS plans to begin construction of a direct reduction plant and two electric arc furnaces in Dillingen and Völklingen with a targeted production of up to 3.5 million mt of green steel annually starting in 2027-2028. SHS stated that the first step will be to convert up to 70 percent of production to a climate-friendly process to ensure that carbon emissions can be cut by 55 percent as early as 2030.
