“This investment decision is a very important step on our journey to fossil-free steel production and becoming a fossil-free company. It will have a positive impact both locally and globally and help our customers to reduce their carbon footprint. At the same time we will keep local jobs and improve the surrounding environment,” said SSAB president and chief executive Martin Lindqvist.

The company said it hopes to power up the furnace, which would melt both scrap and sponge iron, in the fourth quarter of 2026. 

Although SSAB said the work at its Oxelösund mill is its first big step in its plan to switch its entire Nordic production system over to electric steelmaking, it’s not its only step to date. In 2016, SSAB launched the HYBRIT initiative to develop new fossil-fuel-free steelmaking technology, and in 2020, opened a pilot-scale, hydrogen-reduced sponge iron plant. 

The plant’s sponge iron has been converted into small volumes of fossil-fuel-free steel and delivered to strategic customers, SSAB said.