In 2020, 1,860 million tonnes of steel were produced globally, each tonne leading, on average, to the emission of 1.89 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. The total direct emissions from the steel industry in 2020 were therefore in the order of 2.6 billion tonnes, representing between 7% and 9%. of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions (source: WorldSteel.org).
This matters for the renewable energy transition, because each new MW of solar power installed needs around 40 tons of steel, and each new MW of wind power requires around 150 tons of steel (source: CleanTechnica.com).
Commercially-viable "fossil-free" steel has long been one of the holy grails of decarbonisation. Innovative Swedish company SSAB has been producing fossil-freeTM steel using its revolutionary HYBRIT® technology, which replaces coal in the iron ore reduction process with hydrogen, removing fossil carbon emissions. To date, SSAB has supplied small quantities of fossil-free steel for prototypes, and small batch production runs.
For almost 10 years, SSAB has also been supporting wave energy company CorPower Ocean with the selection and specialist design of high-strength steel for its wave energy technology, and according to the CorPower website:
"Partly by using SSAB's high-strength steel, CorPower Ocean's technology already delivers more than five times as much electricity per tonne of equipment compared with previous state-of-the-art wave energy systems".
And in October 2023, CorPower Ocean successfully verified its C4 device's "Survival Mode", after weathering two major storms off the Portuguese coast.
Now, SSAB and CorPower Ocean are taking their collaboration one step further, and have signed an agreement to "explore the development of one of the world's first wave energy power plants, made using fossil-free steel".
From 2026, CorPower Ocean aims to use fossil-free steel from SSAB to build a wave energy system that has significantly lower carbon emissions than current systems.
"The deal marks a new step for wave electricity plants" CorPower's website says, "where greater emphasis is placed on the full life cycle of energy generating systems, including the sourcing and recycling of structural materials".
CorPower offers a modular system it calls "CorPack", comprising Wave Energy Converters (WECs), mooring system, anchors, electrical collection system and remote control and communication - everything required to generate electricity from ocean waves. These "CorPacks" can be deployed side-by-side to create large wave farms with potential gigawatt capacity.
The potential to vastly reduce the carbon footprint of these WECs before they are even deployed in the ocean represents a step forward in the renewable energy transition, and illustrates the power of innovative collaboration.
Can intellectual property help accelerate the race to net zero? Visit our Energy Transition hub to find out.
CorPower Ocean makes products that harness ocean waves to generate clean energy, and recently deployed its first commercial scale device off the coast of northern Portugal. Currently around 25 percent of these products' lifetime CO2 emissions comes from the use of steel as a material in the products.
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