Decarbonization of industry boosts electricity needs

The change will be considerable. ArcelorMittal is moving away from coal in steelmaking. Instead, the giant will use hydrogen to carry out a direct reaction with iron ore, and produce steel. To implement this upheaval, the group will abandon its blast furnaces to switch to electric ovens. The complete process will take time, but a vast investment plan, amounting to 1.7 billion euros, is already beginning to be implemented in Dunkirk and Fos-sur-Mer. Consequence: ArcelorMittal “will become a very large consumer of electricity, what is called hyper-electro-intensive, when our new steel production unit is commissioned in Dunkirk in 2027”, explains Stéphane Delpeyroux, head of public affairs at ArcelorMittal in France. Its northern site should even become the first electricity consumer site in France.

The movement to electrify production processes…