changlong wang, Stuart Duncan Christopher Walsh, Andrew Feitz

Green steel - produced using hydrogen and electricity from renewable energy sources - provides both the means to decarbonize steel manufacturing and a way to facilitate growth of the international hydrogen industry. Australia, with its abundant renewable resources and ample iron-ore deposits, is in an excellent position to participate in this opportunity. We highlight the synergies between the Australian iron-ore industry and the production of green-hydrogen from renewable energy sources. We identify high-potential areas for green steel production by cross-referencing regions of current and future iron-ore extraction against areas of high economic potential for hydrogen production. From these, we select two regions, the Pilbara region of North-Western Australia and the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, for more detailed case studies. The analysis highlights the advantages of a well-optimised generation mix (in terms of wind, solar, battery, grid connection and salt cavern storage, etc.) in decreasing storage requirements and the resulting production costs. We also demonstrate that green steel production costs could be reduced further if the system could use grid electricity to balance onsite renewable power by participating in the electricity spot market and operating flexibly.