OMNI Features｜H2 Green Steel Secures €4.5 Billion Funding for the World's First Large-Scale Green Hydrogen-Based Steel Plant．European Energy Cancels Omø South Wind Project Offshore Denmark / Developers submit Stromar floater EIA report．Belgian Modular Offshore Grid (MOG) to the Rescue as Rentel Export Cable Gets Damaged

（Photo Source：H2 Green Steel）

｜H2 Green Steel Secures €4.5 Billion Funding for the World's First Large-Scale Green Hydrogen-Based Steel Plant
H2 Green Steel (H2GS) has secured an additional €4.5bn of funding to build the world's first large-scale green steel project, which will incorporate about 1GW of electrolysers, making it the biggest green hydrogen facility in Europe.

The Swedish start-up, founded in 2020, now has close to €6.5bn of financing in place, and is expected to soon take a Final Investment Decision (FID) on its plant in Boden, northern Sweden, which will use a combination of green hydrogen and renewable electricity to produce near-zero-emission steel.

H2GS along with some established steel makers such as Thyssenkrupp and ArcelorMittal — aim to replace coking coal with green hydrogen in order to decarbonise the extraction of iron from ore, and then use renewable energy to power electric arc furnaces that can further process the iron into steel.

H2GS describes its steel as "near zero carbon", as the iron ore will be shipped from Brazil and Canada, resulting in embedded emissions of about 40-50kg of CO2 per tonne of steel produced. But H2GS points out that this will be more than offset by the 1,800-1,900kg of CO2 emissions per tonne of steel avoided by its process. The construction of the Boden plant has already begun, despite the lack of an official FID, with production due to begin in 2027.

H2GS has also raised "close to €300m more in equity", with new shareholders including the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund and Siemens Financial Services, bringing the private placement to a total of €2.1bn.

｜European Energy Cancels Omø South Wind Project Offshore Denmark
The Danish company European Energy has decided to cease the development of the Omø Syd (Omø South) offshore wind project in Denmark. European Energy has been developing the Omø South offshore wind project for over ten years and had its environmental impact assessment (EIA) approved in 2020, together with its other project in Denmark, the Jammerland Bay offshore wind farm.

The company learned from the Danish Government that they plan to designate the same area as a Natura 2000 bird sanctuary. according to an update posted by Andreas Karhula Lauridsen, Vice President and Head of Offshore Wind at European Energy.

In February 2023, the Danish Energy Agency suspended the processing of 33 open-door offshore wind projects, including Omø South. A month later, the agency resumed the assessment of four open-door schemes, including the 320 MW Omø South offshore wind project. The wind farm was planned to be developed in Småland water between Zealand and Lolland.

"Since our feasibility study permit has a height limit of 200 meters and today's offshore wind turbines have become 256 meters tall, it goes without saying that the project has no future." said Lauridsen.

European Energy is developing three other offshore wind projects in Denmark:
｜Little Belt / 160 MW (located approx. 4km northeast of Als and 6km from Helnæs)
｜Jammerland Bay / 240 MW (located northwest of Reersø with over 6km to the nearest coast)
｜Fredrikshavn / 72 MW (located 4km off Frederikshavn, and 1.8km off the coast of Hirsholmene)

｜Developers submit Stromar floater EIA report
Ørsted, BlueFloat Energy and Renantis have submitted the comprehensive EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) scoping and HRA (Health Risk Appraisal) screening reports for their 1000 MW Stromar floating offshore wind farm. The reports for the project, located approximately 50 km east of Wick, Scotland, were delivered to the Marine Directorate and Aberdeenshire Council.

The HRA screening reports outline the key protected sites and species of relevance to the Stromar development area and present how impacts will be assessed in more detail at the next stage. The project team will now schedule a number of community consultation events in spring 2024 to ensure stakeholders are fully informed and that their views are considered in the site selection, design and development of the project.

｜Belgian Modular Offshore Grid (MOG) to the Rescue as Rentel Export Cable Gets Damaged
The export cable of the Rentel offshore wind farm is reported to have been damaged. However, the offshore wind farm keeps feeding electricity into the Belgian grid as Modular Offshore Grid (MOG), the offshore power hub has taken over.

The Rentel offshore wind farm went into full operation in January 2019. Elia, the operator of Belgium's MOG stated that the cable from the Rentel platform to the mainland was damaged after an incident and that the cause of the cable incident is still being investigated. In the meantime, an alternative transmission route via the offshore power hub is now being used.

According to Elia, despite the export cable damage, the 309 MW wind farm can continue to generate power since it is integrated into the meshed high-voltage grid; Rentel has two export cables: one running from its offshore substation to the coast, which is currently interrupted, and one running to Elia's offshore power hub.

參考來源：hydrogeninsight｜renews.biz｜offshorewind.biz