For CEO Martina Merz, it is nothing less than a "turning point for steel production in the Ruhr area": ​​Thyssenkrupp is building a first huge plant for the production of green steel in Duisburg for a total cost of more than 2 billion euros.

The orders are to be placed in the fall, and the start of production is planned for 2026, a year later than previously planned.

Helmut Buender

Business correspondent in Düsseldorf.

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The plant will be significantly larger than originally calculated: it is designed for an annual capacity of 2.5 million tons.

Almost a quarter of the current flat steel production in the Duisburg plant could then be produced in the long term using hydrogen in a climate-friendly manner.

On Thursday, the supervisory board and the board of directors approved the project and released their own share of the financing.

How much the group will invest out of its own pocket remained open.

What is clear is that much of the money will come from grants.

"The major project is still subject to public funding," the group said.

The applications for federal and state funds have been in Brussels for some time to be examined.

When the release will come is not yet foreseeable, it said.

Investment grants and operating grants applied for

Thyssenkrupp has not only applied for investment grants, but also wants operating grants for ongoing production, which are intended to partially offset the additional costs compared to conventionally produced steel.

When asked about the amount of the own contribution, reference was made in corporate circles to the competitor Salzgitter AG and the magnitudes mentioned there.

Salzgitter had already started its conversion program in July and released its own funds of 723 million euros for it.

However, the planned capacity is significantly smaller: the target for 2025 is an annual production of 1.9 million tons of green steel.

The investment costs for this first expansion stage were estimated at around 1.5 billion euros.

In addition, the technical concepts are partly different.

The steel industry emits a lot of carbon dioxide

"The approval of this enormous investment comes in the middle of the restructuring of the company, in an environment that is also very challenging for everyone," CEO Merz was quoted as saying.

Thyssenkrupp is thus underscoring its claim to "make a decisive and, above all, rapid contribution to the green transformation".

The steel industry is one of the industries with the highest carbon dioxide emissions.

More than 2 tons of the greenhouse gas are produced per ton of steel on the blast furnace route because the oxygen bound in the ore has to be extracted with the help of coke.

The Duisburg steel production alone accounts for 2.5 percent of all German carbon dioxide emissions.

In relation to the Ruhr area, it is around 25 percent.

In the new direct reduction plant, the ore is reduced with hydrogen.

The resulting sponge iron is liquefied into pig iron in downstream melting units.

This can then be processed into steel and intermediate products in existing plants.

In this way, the entire product portfolio "can be produced with low CO2 emissions without compromising on quality".

The steel is only largely climate-neutral or "green" if the hydrogen required in huge quantities is produced with the help of renewable energies.

First preliminary contracts have been concluded;

Network operators are developing plans for pipelines that will bring hydrogen from the north.

The aim is to play a leading role in the competition for the green steel markets of the future, said Bernhard Osburg, head of steel.

The new plant will reduce its own CO2 emissions by almost a fifth.

By 2030, the capacity for low-carbon steel is expected to double to 5 million tons.

The green transformation is a "clear commitment to job security and the future of our location," said Tekin Nasikkol, Chairman of the General Works Council.

At the same time he called for a qualification offensive for the steelmakers.