Norway’s Blastr Plans €4 Billion Green Steel Plant in Finland

By Bloomberg

Jan 03, 2023

image is BloomburgMedia_RNWC3PT0AFB401_03-01-2023_19-00-06_638083008000000000.jpg

A red hot steel slab at a rolling mill at the ArcelorMittal SA Ghent steel plant in Ghent, Belgium, on Thursday, March 17, 2022. While the European Union discusses massive borrowing to finance energy projects that would help wean the bloc off its dependence on Russian gas, ArcelorMittal European Chief Executive Officer Geert Van Poelvoorde said using hydrogen to decarbonize the Ghent plant -- which produces 3.6% of the EU's steel -- would require "massive energy" with four gigawatts of power capacity. Photographer: Valeria Mongelli/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Norway’s Blastr Green Steel is planning a €4 billion ($4.3 billion) investment to construct a low-carbon steel factory in Finland in what could be one of the largest industrial projects to take place in the Nordic country.

Blastr signed a letter of intent with Fortum Oyj on the planned location, an industrial area in Inkoo on the south coast of the country, according to a statement by Business Finland on Tuesday. The facility will include integrated hydrogen production and employ as many as 1,200 staff when operational.

Steel-making is one of the most polluting industries in the world, with huge blast furnaces heating iron ore with coking coal. A cleaner way is to use hydrogen produced with renewable energy. A number of companies, including Sweden’s SSAB AB and Finland’s Outokumpu Oyj, are exploring green-steel technologies, though it’s not yet produced at an industrial scale.

The Blastr factory is set to produce 2.5 million tons of hot and cold-rolled green steel annually from of 2026. The company chose Finland for its factory in part due to the abundance of wind power, according to Chief Executive Officer Hans Fredrik Wittusen. While Blastr is yet to secure funding for the project, it plans to raise debt and funds on the capital markets, the CEO told newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. The final investment decision is due in the beginning of 2025, according to the newspaper.

Blastr is backed by Vanir Green Industries, founded by Tore Ivar Slettemoen, who is also one of the founders of Freyr Battery AS, a company that targets the production of green battery cells to decarbonize energy and transportation systems.

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By Leo Laikola