Hydrogen-based iron and steel production could reduce global carbon emissions. However, the opportunities and challenges presented by this technology are obscured as its cost competitiveness depends on multiple industrial processes, each with various feedstock requirements, storage options, and supporting infrastructure. To address this problem, we have developed the Green Steel Economic Fairways Mapper. This free, online tool models the costs of hydrogen-based green ironmaking and steelmaking, and maps cost variations across Australia. The Mapper combines large-scale infrastructure and geoscience datasets to provide a high-level, geospatial analysis of the economic viability of hypothetical green steel projects. It creates a new capability within Australia—filling the void before the detail and expense of feasibility studies—to understand the broad contours of the decarbonization challenge, and to inform early-stage decision making in the pursuit of low-carbon steel.
The Mapper optimizes system capacities for renewable energy generation, battery storage, hydrogen electrolysis, and hydrogen storage to estimate the levelized costs of green iron or green steel. Our modelled costs, under our preferred 2025 technology cost assumptions, are shown in Figure 1. Regions in southern and central Western Australia have the lowest cost estimates, with similar potential modelled for South Australia, western Victoria, and northern Queensland. The key drivers vary across regions. For instance, central Australia has complimentary renewable energy characteristics but is limited by transportation costs. As a tool, the Mapper also allows users to refine their own key assumptions, or to quickly model different scenarios. In this manner the Mapper creates an open capability for Australian industry, government, and the public to assess domestic green steel production potential.
Presented at the 2024 Australian Hydrogen Research Conference (AHRC)
