Sweden's H2 Green Steel has rebranded as Stegra as part of plans to diversify.
The company will focus on three distinct areas of "green hydrogen, green iron and green steel", it said. The new name, which is Swedish for 'elevate', "reflects our long-term ambitions", chief executive Henrik Henriksson said.
The company's main priority remains building a €6.5bn plant in Boden, Sweden which will use hydrogen to reduce iron and make lower-carbon steel. But the new name "future proofs" the company because it may also do projects where it only sells hydrogen or only sells green iron, according to its head of public and media relations Karin Hallstan.
Stegra's Boden project will be the largest renewable hydrogen plant in the world at 700MW, at least until Saudi Arabia's 2GW Neom project comes on line. Boden will remain the largest in Europe, as the next biggest project in the region that has passed the final investment decision stage is only is 300MW.
Stegra's most advanced project outside Sweden is in Portugal, where it has reserved land near Sines, it said. The firm said it has been awarded a grid connection for a "substantial allocation of the power needed" from the relevant Portuguese company, but it still needs to agree a deal for power supply, which is handled by another company, Hallstan said.
The Portuguese project "may not be another steel plant, it could be hydrogen and green iron to become a supplier to the European steel industry", Hallstan said. "We might not do all three steps in all locations," she added.
The project is still some years away, as it is around "where we were in 2020 in Sweden", Hallstan said. "But these are long lead projects and you have to start early in the areas where it makes sense to have large-scale hydrogen production and where there is good logistics for raw materials like iron ore," she said.
That means working on grid connections and permitting early, she added. "Looking at a map of the world, you can zone in on areas that make a lot of sense to start prospecting, then you need to do that early."
The two areas of Europe where Stegra is working have some of the lowest hydrogen costs, as evidenced by the results of a recent hydrogen bank competition. It is also developing projects in Canada and Brazil, it said.
