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New low-emission steel offering for wind turbines
24/1/2024
News
Vestas and ArcelorMittal have launched a low-emission steel tower they claim will significantly reduce lifetime CO2 emissions from the production of wind turbine towers.
The low-emission steel is produced using 100% steel scrap melted in an electric arc furnace powered by 100% wind energy at the ArcelorMittal steel mill, Industeel Charleroi, Belgium. The steel slabs will then be transformed into heavy plates used for the manufacture of wind turbine towers at ArcelorMittal’s heavy plate mill in Gijon, Spain.
These heavy plates are initially suitable for the entire onshore wind turbine towers and the top section of offshore wind turbine towers. Utilising low-emission steel in the top two sections of an offshore tower, translates to approximately 25% reduction of emission compared to a tower made via the conventional steelmaking route. For an entire onshore tower, the CO2 reduction is at least 52%, claim the companies.
Steel and iron constitute 80–90% of a wind turbine’s material mass, and about 50% of a turbine’s total lifecycle emissions. With the partnership with ArcelorMittal, Vestas can achieve a 66% decrease in emission intensity per kg steel compared with steel produced via the conventional steelmaking route.
The first project to utilise the low-emission steel will be the 1.2 GW Baltic Power offshore wind project off the coast of Poland, due to start construction next year, which will supply clean electricity to more than 1.5 million households. Vestas will supply, install and commission 76 V236-15.0 MW wind turbines, with the top section of 52 of those towers to be made with the low-emission steel.
