Tata Steel and Dutch Government Sign Green Deal
10/06/2011 - Tata Steel signed a new agreement with the Government in the Netherlands committing Tata Steel’s IJmuiden plant to further improvements in its sustainability performance. The three Green Deal projects will be carried out in IJmuiden’s blast furnaces, steel meltshop, and wide hot strip mill.
Tata Steel signed a new agreement with the Government in the Netherlands committing Tata Steel’s IJmuiden plant to further improvements in its sustainability performance on top of the steps already taken in this regard.
Three projects costing in total EUR 10 million should lead to additional annual savings in energy consumption of 0.3 petajoules—enough to power 20,000 Dutch homes for a year, according to Tata Steel. The Green Deal projects, which will be carried out in IJmuiden’s blast furnaces, steel meltshop, and wide hot strip mill, are in addition to projects to reduce energy consumption that have already been agreed with the Government and have a longer payback time (upwards of five years).
Chairman of the Dutch board of directors Theo Henrar signed the deal on behalf of Tata Steel, and Minister of Economic Affairs Maxime Verhagen and Secretary for Infrastructure & Environment Joop Atsma on behalf of the Dutch Government.
“This Green Deal aligns perfectly with Tata Steel’s efforts to produce steel in as sustainable a way as possible,” Henrar said at the signing ceremony. “We have been working on reducing energy consumption since 1990—and we have been successful, since IJmuiden is one of the world’s leading steel plants as far as energy-efficiency is concerned.
“In addition to this agreement, we call on the Government to help strengthen further the competitiveness of the Tata Steel plant in IJmuiden by creating a strong high-tech industrial sector, improving access to input materials and creating a level playing field, on a European and a global level, as far as environmental and climate change policies go. It is also most important that the Government works to ensure that sufficient numbers of young people receive a professional-level technical education.”
The Green Deal has been signed by 40 Dutch companies and industry bodies, and stems from the Government’s coalition agreement, which states that the Government will make green deals with citizens, companies, and NGOs to stimulate the development of plans that combine economic growth and sustainability.
The Green Deal projects at IJmuiden are:
- Project Residual Heat, Hot Strip Mill 2 — Before steel slabs from the meltshop are hot rolled, they are reheated in one of IJmuiden’s four reheating furnaces to a temperature of 1100°C. This project is to use the hot rolling mill’s cooling water to heat several buildings on site.
- Project Frequency Drives, Steel Meltshop — This project will equip converter and dedusting ventilators in the steel meltshop with frequency-driven motors. This will enable the ventilator speeds to be better aligned with the production process, saving electricity.
- Project Expansion Turbines — This project will lead to adjustments to the blast furnace expansion turbines, enabling them to convert additional amounts of energy from the blast furnace process into electricity.
