Rs.15,000cr ‘Green Steel Mission’ on the anvil
Companies have committed an investment of Rs.27,106 crore in the Specialty Steel production with an estimated output of 7.9 million tonnes, the Ministry of Steel said on 30 Dec 2024.
As of October 2024, companies have already invested Rs.17,581 crore, the Ministry said in a yearend review of the industry.
Capacity Expansion: The Government acts as a facilitator, by creating a conducive policy environment for the development of steel sector across all states in the country https://www.makeinindia.com/home/.
However, India is self-sufficient in most grades of steel, with imports contributing a very small percentage of the country’s steel production. The details regarding crude steel production, finished steel production and consumption https://fieo.org/.
For 2023-24, Indian crude steel production was 127.2 million tonnes, up nominally from 2021-22’s 120.20 million tonnes. In 2023-24, crude steel output went up to 144.30 million tonnes but it was only 85.4 million tonnes in April-Oct ’24. Comparatively, the Apr-Oct ’23 crude steel production was 82.47 million tonnes https://sbi.com.in/.
The Government has taken decisive steps to enhance the steel industry’s environmental sustainability, and is preparing a Rs.15,000 crore ‘Green Steel Mission’ to reduce carbon emission from plants and progress towards the Net Zero Target https://www.iea.org/.
The Mission includes PLI Scheme for Green Steel, incentives for use of renewable energy and mandates for Government agencies to buy Green Steel, the Ministry of Steel said on 30 Dec.
“The National Green Hydrogen Mission, spearheaded by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, integrates the steel sector into the broader goal of producing and using green hydrogen, contributing to the decarbonisation of steel production,” the Ministry said https://www.conexpoconagg.com/.
In this regard, a Report on ‘Greening the Steel Sector in India: Roadmap and Action Plan’ on the basis of the recommendations of 14 Task Forces constituted by Ministry of Steel on various key levers of decarbonisation of steel sector, was released on 10 Sept 2024.
Further, the Taxonomy of Green Steel for India was released on 12 Dec 2024. In this the Green Steel and Green star rating of the steel have been defined. The Steel Scrap Recycling Policy further complements these efforts by increasing the availability of domestically generated scrap, thus promoting resource efficiency, the Ministry said https://www.ibef.org/.
The Ministry has released the Taxonomy for Green Steel on 12 Dec 2024 to provide standards for defining and categorizing the low emission steel, facilitating the green transition of the steel industry.
It provides a framework for production of green steel, creation of market for green steel and seeking financial support.
Likewise, the steel sector is a stakeholder in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) National Green Hydrogen Mission (https://mnre.gov.in/en/) for green hydrogen production and usage.
The Mission and has been allocated budgetary support of Rs.455 crores for implementation of pilot projects in iron & steel sector up to Financial Year 2029-30.
Under this mission, Ministry of Steel has awarded 2 Pilot Projects to produce Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) using 100% Hydrogen in vertical shaft and one Pilot Project to use of hydrogen in existing Blast Furnace to reduce coal and coke consumption on 19 Oct 2024.
Pilot Projects for injection of Green Hydrogen in existing vertical shaft based DRI making unit to partially substitute the natural gas are also being explored. Fiinews.com
