Sustainable Steel Revolution: Vattenfall-Backed HYBRIT Delivers Exceptional Hydrogen Storage Solution

Sustainable Steel Revolution: Vattenfall-Backed HYBRIT Delivers Exceptional Hydrogen Storage Solution

(IN BRIEF) HYBRIT, a partnership between SSAB, LKAB, and Vattenfall, has achieved a significant breakthrough in hydrogen storage for use in fossil-free steel production. During commercial testing on the electricity market, their hydrogen storage system demonstrated excellent results, potentially reducing hydrogen production costs by 25 to 40 percent. This innovation is crucial for achieving fossil-free steel production. The testing involved producing hydrogen using fossil-free electricity during specific cost-efficient timeframes and supplying it to SSAB. The hydrogen storage facility’s design proved effective for rapid filling and emptying. The project aims to revolutionize the steel industry’s sustainability by making fossil-free steel production economically viable.

(PRESS RELEASE) STOCKHOLM, 16-Oct-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — Vattenfall, a Swedish government-owned multinational power company, announces that HYBRIT, its pioneering collaboration with industry leaders SSAB, LKAB, unveils a significant breakthrough in the field of hydrogen storage, signaling a major step forward in the quest for fossil-free steel production. HYBRIT’s innovative hydrogen storage solution has successfully undergone commercial testing on the electricity market, demonstrating outstanding results that hold immense promise for the industry’s transition to sustainable practices.

“Despite the fact that Vattenfall optimised trading and operations against real electricity prices during a period with low price variations, the results were very good. The tests were conducted in a close collaboration between Hybrit Development and Vattenfall. By applying it in actual circumstances, we were able to follow in real time how much money was saved by using what was stored,” says Marie Anheden, senior project manager at HYBRIT.

Fossil-free hydrogen is an essential component in achieving fossil-free steel production, and the addition of efficient storage capabilities presents a game-changing opportunity to significantly reduce the variable costs associated with hydrogen production, by an impressive range of 25 to 40 percent. The HYBRIT partnership, initiated in 2016, is driving the development of sustainable solutions that will revolutionize the steel industry.

The commercial testing of HYBRIT’s hydrogen storage facility extended over a month and focused on the production of hydrogen using fossil-free electricity at variable electricity prices, optimizing cost efficiency during specific timeframes and periods of ample renewable electricity generation. The produced hydrogen was seamlessly supplied to SSAB to support its operations.

“These are exciting and important results because hydrogen from fossil-free electricity is one of the keys to transitioning the industry. Large-scale hydrogen storage makes it possible to adapt electricity consumption in a system of varying availability and prices and at the same time can supply the industry with hydrogen more stably and cost effectively. Used on a large scale, hydrogen storage can have a dampening effect on electricity price variations, which would favour investments in new electricity generation from all forms of fossil-free power,” says Mikael Nordlander, head of Industry Decarbonisation, Vattenfall.

“LKAB will change the entire production of iron ore products to fossil-free iron sponge produced with hydrogen gas, so these are very important results for us. We will need to produce over one million tonnes of hydrogen and consume over 70 TWh of fossil-free electricity per year when we have restructured the entire operation by 2050. Reducing costs is therefore absolutely necessary,” says Stefan Savonen, senior vice-president for energy and climate at LKAB.

“It is gratifying that the HYBRIT collaboration has had yet another positive result that we can present. The research gives us the security and confidence to continue developing a fossil-free value chain together with Vattenfall and LKAB. The hydrogen storage and fossil-free energy supply are of course important parts of the whole,” says Tomas Hirsch, Director and Head of Energy and ETS at SSAB.

Extensive research on the hydrogen storage, located adjacent to HYBRIT’s fossil-free iron pilot plant in Luleå, has consistently delivered promising results. The design of the storage facility has proven to be exceptionally suitable for rapid filling and emptying, with periods of reduced activity seamlessly integrated. The latest efforts to reduce hydrogen production costs leveraged a sophisticated simulation tool, a new optimization model, and the 100-cubic-meter pilot hydrogen storage in Luleå.

Key Facts:

1. The testing involved Vattenfall bidding in approximately 5 MW (maximum) of hydrogen production on the electricity market daily, with the production plan communicated to HYBRIT.
2. The hydrogen storage facility was commissioned in the summer of 2022, with ongoing tests scheduled until 2024.
3. The hydrogen storage employs the well-established LRC (Lined Rock Cavern) technology for safe and efficient storage.
4. In the HYBRIT pilot initiative, fossil-free (green) hydrogen is produced through water electrolysis powered by fossil-free electricity.
5. The pilot storage facility boasts a capacity of 100 cubic meters, storing hydrogen gas at pressures up to 250 bar. At full scale, with the potential to store 100,000–120,000 m3, equivalent to 100 GWh of electricity converted to hydrogen, it can power a full-size steel mill’s production for up to four days.
6. The pilot storage is situated in a steel-clad rock cavern, approximately 30 meters below ground level and accessible through a connecting tunnel extending approximately 100 meters.
7. An investment of SEK 200 million, evenly distributed among the ownership companies (Vattenfall, SSAB, and LKAB), along with support from the Swedish Energy Agency via Industriklivet, with an injection of just over SEK 52 million, fuels the advancement of this groundbreaking project.

HYBRIT’s successful commercial testing of hydrogen storage marks a significant stride towards a sustainable and environmentally responsible future for the steel industry. The results achieved underscore the importance of collaboration and innovation in driving the transition to fossil-free steel production.

For further details, please contact:

Magnus Kryssare, Press Secretary, tel. +46 (0)76 769 56 07, magnus.kryssare@vattenfall.com

Vattenfall Press Office +46 (0)8 739 50 10, press@vattenfall.com

SOURCE: Vattenfall AB