Czech Republic-based steelmaker Liberty Ostrava has announced that it has signed a contract with Italian plantmaker Danieli for the delivery of two state-of-the-art hybrid electric arc furnaces at the centre of Ostrava’s GREENSTEEL transformation plan. The CZK 8.6 billion (€350 million) investment, which will be the largest investment in the steelworks for a generation, is a huge step forward in LIBERTY Ostrava’s plan to become carbon neutral by 2030.
According to the company, the new furnaces will have a combined capacity of 3.5 million mt per year and will reduce the overall CO2 emissions of the Ostrava steelworks by more than 80 percent by 2027. The new technology will allow the furnaces to be more flexible in the charge mix from large quantities of hot metal and direct reduced iron (DRI/HBI) and up to 100 percent scrap in the second phase of the project. In doing so the plant will reduce its reliance on imported coal and iron ore and provide even greater production flexibility.
The new furnaces are expected to be operational in 2025 and will be able to melt 100 percent scrap in 2027, SteelOrbis understands.
Meanwhile, Liberty pointed out that it has also launched the tender process for similar hybrid electric arc furnaces for Ostrava’s sister plant LIBERTY Galati, Romania, as it too transforms to GREENSTEEL technologies and the group targets 10 million mt of GREENSTEEL capacity in Europe over the next five years.
“The contract we have signed today is a historic milestone for the Ostrava steelworks and a massive step forward towards our GREENSTEEL and carbon neutrality plans here in Ostrava and across Europe. This is the largest investment in Ostrava for a generation and the start of a major transformation across Europe as we move away from older polluting production methods to the latest lower carbon production technologies. This will not only make us a cleaner and more sustainable producer but also a more responsive and dynamic player in the market,” said Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of LIBERTY Steel Group.