A new fossil-free steel plant is rapidly emerging

In February 2021, plans are presented for a new steel plant in Boden in Norrbotten that will produce fossil-free steel in a direct reduction process with hydrogen instead of the traditional blast furnace process with coal and coke. With emissions of pure water vapor instead of carbon dioxide.

The main owner is Harald Mix through his company Vargas Holding. Scania's CEO Henrik Henriksson is recruited as CEO.

In May of the same year, H2 Green Steel secures SEK 1 billion in a first capital round. The financial families Wallenberg and Agnelli, and Mercedes-Benz were among the investors, as were Kinnevik's Cristina Stenbeck and Spotify's Daniel Ek.

In July 2022, H2 Green Steel received a building permit and was able to immediately start the groundwork for the steel plant.

H2 Green Steel has secured two electricity supply contracts, with Norwegian Statkraft and Finnish Fortum. The contracts cover a large part of the company's electricity needs.

The company has secured several large customer contracts. The largest was completed in May this year, involving steel deliveries of over SEK 20 billion to the Italian steel company Marcegaglia.

On June 1, 2023, H2 Green Steel received an environmental permit for the plant.

On August 8, the company announced that it had to import iron ore from Brazil and Canada. The reason is that the state-owned mining company LKAB, with several mines in Norrbotten, says it cannot supply ore to H2 Green Steel.

On September 7, 2023, H2 Green Steel secured financing for the steel plant. In total, the company has now secured SEK 59 billion, including SEK 38 billion in loans.