Hybrit is building a unique large-scale pilot plant in Luleå - for a quarter of a billion

It was two weeks ago that it became clear that Hybrit, which is run by SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall, is placing the world's first plant of fossil-free mushrooms in Gällivare.

The goal is for Sweden to be the first in the world to produce fossil-free steel.

Luleå thus lost that tug-of-war - but now it is clear that they will instead invest in a hydrogen storage in Svartöberget to develop the technology for storage.

They believe that fossil-free hydrogen, which replaces coal and coke, is a crucial part of the production technology for fossil-free iron and steel production, where carbon dioxide emissions are in principle eliminated.

"Very gratifying"

Hydrogen storage is considered to play a very important role for future power and energy balancing and large-scale hydrogen production.

The warehouse is expected to be completed and in operation from 2022 until 2024.

- It is very gratifying that Hybrit continues to lead the development of efficient production of fossil-free steel when we now also build a pilot warehouse for large-scale fossil-free hydrogen in Luleå.

Storage provides the opportunity to vary the demand for electricity and stabilize the energy system by producing hydrogen when there is a lot of electricity, for example when it is windy, and using stored hydrogen when the electricity system is strained, says Andreas Regnell, Vattenfall and Chairman of Hybrit in a press release.

- By developing a method for hydrogen storage and secure access to fossil-free electricity, we create a value chain all the way out to customers where everything is fossil-free - from mine to electricity and to the finished steel.

This is unique, says Martin Pei, SSAB and board member of HYBRIT.

Warehouses are built below the ground

The 100 cubic meter hydrogen reservoir is being built in a clad rock room about 30 meters below the ground.

This is to ensure in a cost-effective way the pressure required to store large amounts of energy in the form of hydrogen gas.

The investment of just over SEK 250 million is shared by the owner companies and the Swedish Energy Agency, which support via Industriklivet.