Tata EAF conversion receives a green light

The Tata Steel UK business unit of India-based Tata Steel says a regional planning committee has approved its proposals to install recycled-content electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking technology at the Tata Steel UK site in Port Talbot, Wales, United Kingdom.

“We are very pleased to have secured approval to build sustainable steelmaking in Port Talbot,” says Rajesh Nair, CEO of Tata Steel UK. “Amidst a challenging global market, this is a significant milestone for the project, and we are committed to begin large-scale work on site this summer, ahead of the EAF starting up [toward] the end of 2027.”

The approval was granted by the Neath Port Talbot Council Planning Committee in Wales. It follows a U.K. government funding contribution agreed to in 2023 and Tata Steel UK’s selection of Tenova of Italy as an EAF technology vendor last year.

Nair calls the $1.57 billion project in Port Talbot “the most significant investment made in the U.K. steel industry in decades. The facility will secure high-quality steel production, preserve thousands of jobs and safeguard steel making in Port Talbot for generations to come.”

The company says the project “will preserve 5,000 Tata Steel UK jobs and cut on-site CO₂ emissions by 90 percent compared to previous blast furnace-based steelmaking—equivalent to 1.5 percent of the U.K.’s total direct CO₂ emissions.”

Comments U.K. Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, “This is a major step forward in securing a bright, long-term future for steel in South Wales. Today’s news will provide security for Port Talbot’s green steel transition and help give Welsh steelmaking the certainty it needs to drive growth and attract investment.”

The steel producer says EAF technology that melts “predominantly scrap steel” makes sense at the location because “there is an abundance” of ferrous scrap in the U.K., rather than requiring imported iron ore and coal.”

Tata Steel says the site’s “ageing” blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace iron and steelmaking systems, which included an iron and coal harbor, coke ovens, a sinter plant and blast furnace, were closed last year.

The planning application now approved sought permission to construct an EAF and two new ladle metallurgy furnaces for secondary steelmaking, plus what Tata Steel calls “supporting infrastructure.”

A BBC News report says that supporting infrastructure will include a scrap processing yard, a fume and dust treatment plant and a water treatment facility.

Tata Steel Group refers to itself as one of the world's most geographically diversified steel producers, with annual sales of more than $27.5 billion. Its Tata Steel Nederland business unit also is in the midst of a blast furnace-to-EAF technology conversion project.