(Salzgitter / Germany) – Salzgitter AG and Uniper SE have signed a preliminary agreement for the delivery and purchase of 20.000 tons of green hydrogen annually. This hydrogen is to be produced in Uniper's planned 200-megawatt electrolysis plant on the site of the former coal-fired power plant in Wilhelmshaven.
Contract signing at the Salzgitter AG headquarters (from left): Sandrina Sieverdingbeck, Managing Director of Deutsche Erz- und Metall-Union GmbH, Holger Kreetz, Uniper SE COO, Gunnar Groebler, Salzgitter AG CEO, Christian Stuckmann, Uniper SE VP Business Development Hydrogen © Uniper SE
The energy carrier is needed for the " Salcos – Salzgitter Low CO2 Steelmaking" program and will be used in the direct reduction plant currently under construction in Salzgitter (Lower Saxony) to produce nearly CO2-neutral steel. According to the information provided, the demand in the first expansion phase is 150.000 tons annually. The preliminary agreement covers, among other things, the technical and commercial framework for hydrogen supply. Depending on the availability of the German core hydrogen network and a pipeline, Uniper could supply certified green hydrogen from 2028 at the earliest.
Hydrogen pipelines are intended to connect industrial centers in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia in the future (excerpt): The companies supported include Salzgitter AG (customer for Salcos), Etzel (cavern storage), Bremen (customer for steel production), Lingen (hydrogen power plant), Duisburg (steel) and Cologne (Chemistry) © Salzgitter AG
According to the companies, a pipeline connection from Wilhelmshaven to Salzgitter is “absolutely necessary” and must be created as quickly as possible. “The production and availability of green hydrogen is a central success criterion for Salcos,” says Gunnar Groebler, CEO of Salzgitter AG. “That’s why this agreement with Uniper is another important step on our path to green steel.” The energy infrastructure and the associated pipeline networks must now be expanded with emphasis.
Electrolysis up to one gigawatt
Due to good access to renewable energies, especially from the offshore wind farms in the North Sea, the early connection to the German hydrogen pipeline system and the planned hydrogen storage facilities in northern Germany, Wilhelmshaven is the ideal location for Uniper's “Green Wilhelmshaven” projects, says Holger Kreetz, COO Uniper SE. The plan is to expand electrolysis there to an output of one gigawatt, which would enable hydrogen production of 100.000 tons per year. In addition, Uniper will build a terminal for the import of green ammonia by ship with a quantity of at least 300.000 tons, which can be converted into hydrogen and also fed into the German core network.
Due to the good access to offshore wind farms in the North Sea, the early connection to the German hydrogen pipeline system and the planned hydrogen storage in northern Germany, Wilhelmshaven is the ideal location for Uniper's “Green Wilhelmshaven” projects. © Salzgitter AG
With its Salcos program, the Salzgitter Group is gradually converting traditional coal-based steel production via the blast furnace route to direct reduction technology (DRI production with a downstream electric arc furnace), which will initially primarily use natural gas and increasingly green hydrogen as reducing agents .
The company has always used the name, but it was only now that the brand was officially introduced for the first time at the Hannover Messe. The central component is “the close orientation” to the green steel categorization of the so-called Low Emission Steel Standard (LESS) of the Steel Association. Under the brand name Salcos, Salzgitter offers “exclusively physically CO2-reduced green steel products of LESS category C and better”. The labeling is accompanied by a certificate about the scrap content and the “Product Carbon Footprint” (PCF). This indicates the CO2 footprint of the steel product produced, which is determined and certified by an independent testing agency.
Customers could already purchase various CO2-reduced steel products from the group's electric arc furnace route. From 2026, steel products would also be offered from the DRI-EAF route (direct reduction and electric arc furnace).
Photos
Salzgitter AG wants to soon produce steel using the DRI process using hydrogen. In the picture: slabs made of cast steel, which are later rolled into sheets and strips. © Salzgitter AG
