The heavily polluting steel industry is taking steps to clean up operations, adopting technologies that produce fewer climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions.
A new report finds that as producers decarbonize, steel-making states like Ohio will need to generate significantly more electricity.
The Clean Energy Buyers Association quantifies the amount. By 2050, the U.S. steel industry will require 174 terawatt hours each year.
“It's roughly 10 times as much electricity demand as business as usual would be, which is not a trivial number,” said Jen Snook, industrial sector adviser for the group.
In Ohio, the second largest steel producing state, demand will be higher.
The report forecasts that steel production will make up 18% of electricity demand in the coming years, joining other big users like data centers.
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Snook says the state needs to prepare for things like more clean energy production
“It starts with planning now, because it takes a while to build out the necessary transmission infrastructure and energy generation — so building that into the forecasts that currently don't use it, and start[ing] that planning process with a more informed perspective that is ready for a changing industry,” Snook said.
What does steel decarbonization mean for Southwest Ohio?
Some of those changes are set to happen locally at the Middletown Works steel plant.
There, steel production is currently powered by coke, a coal-based fuel burned at high temperatures.
The result is a heavily polluting process that emits climate-warming carbon dioxide.
“Steel is roughly 7% of global emissions, a pretty significant amount in and of itself,” Snook said. “If we're going to meet general carbon goals, we need to kind of pull those big levers and we know kind of how to do it.”
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Cleveland Cliffs is planning to replace its coal-burning blast furnace with technologies that do not rely solely on fossil fuels.
One is a hydrogen-ready Direct Reduced Iron Plant, which will burn hydrogen. The others are Electric Melting Furnaces, which will be powered by electricity.
The future of federally supported steel decarbonization projects under Trump
The Middletown steel decarbonization project is slated to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, a piece of legislation incoming President Donald Trump has threatened to repeal once in office.
Snook says while the future of those unallocated federal dollars are uncertain, she believes work to decarbonize steel production will continue.
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“I do know that the market in general is increasing demand for cleaner steel, and that steel companies will respond in a competitive way to meet that demand,” Snook said. “So, whether it's through financial support from the federal government or otherwise, [I] kind of see this trajectory as continuing the way it is.”
Demand for near-zero emissions steel is growing, according to the report. The material is used in construction, cars and green technologies like wind turbines and solar panels.