TATA STEEL GOES FOR STEEL WITH LESS C02

TATA STEEL IS COMMITTED TO LOWER C02 STEEL PRODUCTION IN THE UK

Multinational Tata Steel has announced the installation of a new 30 megawatt generator at its Port Talbot plant in South Wales that will significantly reduce annual energy costs at a time of soaring energy prices.

As part of the extensive £37 million investment in the plant, the generator has been installed in a new turbine hall. The project has also included the creation of a new landscaped area which has been planted with Kidney Vetch, the main food source of the UK’s smallest resident butterfly, the Small Blue.

Tata Steel project manager Guy Simms says, %22Our power plant uses process gases to heat water into steam which then drives a turbine like a propeller. This, in turn, drives an electric rotor to generate our own electricity. We have several of these turbo-alternators but not enough to use all the steam we can create%22 to which he adds that %22however, this latest addition, power will be a radical change in our power generation capability%22.

Guy adds that it also brings environmental benefits. %22Without this generator, not only would we be forced to burn our excess process gases but we would also be buying more electricity from the national grid. The UK still uses a substantial amount of fossil fuel for its electricity generation,%22 he adds.

%22This investment effectively reduces our off-site carbon footprint by 30MW of electricity generation which equates to approximately 120 tonnes of CO2 per day or 43,800 tonnes of CO2 per year. It’s been a gigantic effort, but it will be worth it%22.

The huge generator will also bring additional environmental benefits, as process gases from the blast furnaces, steelmaking plant and coke ovens will be converted into useful energy, reducing emissions from external power generation by more than 40,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.