Nowadays, more and more attention is paid to how to limit global warming, and various industries around the world (including Amazon, Apple, Wal-Mart and other giants) are committed to reducing carbon emissions and the use of fossil fuels as much as possible.
With the surge in demand for renewable energy technologies, iron and steel enterprises are increasingly exploring the opportunities that solar energy brings to iron and steel production.
The iron and steel industry is a resource-intensive and high-emission industry, but it also plays a vital role in producing the materials needed for the sustainable development and transformation of the global economy. Wind turbines, solar farms and hydroelectric dams are all steel-intensive infrastructure to support renewable energy production.
If the international community wants to successfully deal with the impact of climate change, it will depend on the development of the iron and steel industry. The steel industry has been trying to improve operational efficiency-it takes 40% less energy to produce a ton of steel than it did in 1960-and solar energy is likely to play a key role in improving the sustainability of the steel industry.
The world's first solar steel plant
Traditional steel production requires a large amount of fossil fuels to generate the required smelting temperature, but the steel industry is trying to find alternatives to the energy it needs. In fact, the world's three largest steel producers are already making great strides towards solar steel production.
Evraz North America, based in Pueblo, Colorado, has announced that solar energy will become the company's main energy source for steel production. The electric arc furnace operated by Pueblo can use recycled scrap steel to produce finished steel, making it the largest scrap recycling company in Colorado. Recently, the company launched the Bighorn solar project, which will reduce emissions, making it the first steel plant in the world to be powered mainly by solar energy.
The project has a 300 MW DC / 240 MW AC solar farm covering an area of 7.3 square kilometers, making it the largest on-site solar facility in the United States serving a single customer. The 750000 solar panels of the power plant can provide almost all the annual electricity consumption of the steel plant.
James Skip (James Skip Herald), President and CEO of Evraz North America, said: "this groundbreaking partnership will make Evraz North America an industry leader in the use of renewable energy to produce the greenest steel and engineering steel products such as rails, bars and steel bars."
In addition, North American steelmaker Nucor Steel will build a 250 megawatt solar project in Texas. Unlike the Pueblo site, which serves a single customer, the project will provide power to all Nucor plants in North America.
The Nucor project includes a virtual power purchase agreement with EDF North American Renewable Energy, which is valid for 15 years and is the largest of its kind in the steel industry.
"Nucor is one of the most efficient and cleaner steelmakers in the world, and we are always looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint," said Leon Toparian (Leon Topalian), president and CEO of Nucor. "We are proud that our production process will be cleaner by supporting the development of this solar project."
Construction of the project is expected to begin in the summer of 2022 and power generation will begin in 2023.
On the other side of the world, Tata Steel and Tata Power are working together to build a 41-megawatt grid-connected solar project in India's Jakhand and Orissa states. The project, which uses roof solar panels, floating solar panels and ground-mounted solar panels, will provide solar power to the steel mills in Jansheppur and Kalinganaga, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 45210 tons per year.
Narendran (T V Narendran), CEO and Managing Director of Tata Steel, said: "We have taken several best measures across the value chain to enhance the sustainability of our operations. We will continue to seek clean energy solutions and expand our renewable energy footprint. "
In 2017, the two companies also jointly operated a photovoltaic power plant with an installed capacity of 3 megawatts at Tata Steel's Noamundi iron mine. This makes the iron ore the first solar iron ore in India and highlights Tata Steel's commitment to life-cycle considerations as it strives to reduce steelmaking-related emissions.
The steel produced by these innovative enterprises will be one of the greenest products in the world, and as the steel industry increasingly eliminates the coal-fired operation mode, the world steel industry will usher in a more sustainable future.
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