Fossil‑Free Steel Breakthrough: Vattenfall Builds World’s First Green Dam Gate
In a landmark for clean technology, Vattenfall has ordered 120 tonnes of fossil-free steel from SSAB to build a replacement dam gate at the Stornorrfors hydropower plant in northern Swedenenergy-pedia.com. Announced in late October 2025, the agreement marks the world’s first attempt to use virtually carbon-neutral steel in a large-scale infrastructure component. “Vattenfall and SSAB are now taking a big step forward in the development of fossil-free value chains,” said Lovisa Fricot Norén, CEO of Vattenfall’s Nordic hydro power unitenergy-pedia.com. The project deepens a partnership formed in 2023 between the power company and steelmaker to accelerate the fossil-free transitionenergy-pedia.com. What makes this steel “fossil-free”? SSAB’s specialty metal is created without coal or other fossil fuels in the ironmaking process. Instead, it uses the proprietary HYBRIT process jointly developed by SSAB, iron ore miner LKAB, and Vattenfalleurometal.net. In HYBRIT, iron ore is reduced using hydrogen gas rather than coke, producing water vapor instead of carbon dioxide. The resulting “sponge iron” is then melted in an electric arc furnace powered by fossil-free electricityeurometal.net. This eliminates most CO₂ emissions – a game-changer given that conventional steelmaking accounts for an estimated 7–9% of global CO₂ emissionsenergy-pedia.com. SSAB estimates that shifting to fossil-free steel could
