Energie Steiermark takes FID on 5MW green hydrogen plant in Austria

Austrian energy provider Energie Steiermark has taken final investment decision (FID) on its €25m ($29m), 5MW  green hydrogen project in Bergla, western Styria, with construction scheduled to begin this year and completion targeted for 2027.

Strategic partner in the €25m ($29m) project, Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten AG, is the pilot customer and anchor offtaker.

The company will use green hydrogen as the reducing agent in the production of tungsten powder from tungsten oxides, replacing fossil-derived hydrogen and supporting the decarbonisation of its metallurgical processes.

The plant will use renewable energy from Steiermark’s 105MW portfolio of newly commissioned windfarms in the district of Deutschlandsberg and deliver hydrogen to a nearby industrial area via pipeline.

Backed by €28.5m ($33m) in Austrian federal funding over ten years, the project is designed for future expansion and eventual integration into Europe’s hydrogen pipeline network.

Wolfram’s use of hydrogen is an example of green hydrogen replacing fossil-derived hydrogen – an increasingly popular decarbonisation pathway in metallurgy.

Direct reduced iron (DRI) production is perhaps the most prominent example of this substitution in the sector.

While still hampered by high costs and low availability, green hydrogen is expected to become a more viable route to lowering the carbon footprint of existing hydrogen-based industrial processes as renewable energy and electrolyser capacities expand.