New Vattenfall/SSAB collaboration announced

Swedish energy giant Vattenfall needs high-strength steel for several different components, and SSAB can supply it. The new collaboration will mean that Vattenfall gains access to fossil-free steel from SSAB, with sponge iron from the HYBRIT pilot plant, as early as next year. The volume of delivered steel will increase once production is scaled up. Vattenfall plans to start developing pilots next year with potential applications including power line pylons, hydroelectric dams, grid stations, anchoring structures for onshore wind power and parts of foundations for offshore wind power.

Vattenfall also aims to work with sub-contractors that use fossil-free steel, and in doing so, will require that at least 10% of the steel that Vattenfall purchases each year be fossil-free from 2030. Vattenfall and SSAB will also collaborate on sustainability calculations and the life cycle assessment (LCA) method of calculating CO₂ emissions to ensure an entire fossil-free value chain.

“It feels incredibly good that Vattenfall, with whom we have a successful collaboration regarding HYBRIT, will now use fossil-free steel in their products and work with sub-contractors who do so too. It shows what we can achieve when we work together and is completely in line with our goal of not only reducing our own emissions but also contributing to reducing the carbon footprint in other parts of the value chain,” says Christina Friborg, head of sustainability, SSAB.

“It is very positive that Vattenfall has managed to secure some of the first deliveries, despite high demand. We are now closing the circle in the HYBRIT collaboration as we take the step toward using fossil-free steel in our operations. We are working determinedly for fossil freedom and our goal is to have net zero emissions in our entire value chain by 2040. Electrifying society demands a great deal more steel and, in the long term, many suppliers, and Vattenfall needs the fossil-free steel to reach our ambitious goals. Together with SSAB, we can lead the way toward fossil freedom,” says Annika Ramsköld, head of sustainability, Vattenfall.

Vattenfall and SSAB are among the many founders of the First Movers Coalition and this agreement, they claim, is completely in line with the coalition’s goal of purchasing a larger share of new technology that will be decisive in achieving climate neutrality.

Since 2016, Vattenfall, SSAB and LKAB own the technology development company Hybrit Development AB, whose purpose is to develop technical solutions for a fossil-free value chain for producing fossil-free steel.