The company will also consider investing in direct iron recovery technology under certain conditions
Indian steelmaker Tata Steel will consider additional investment at its Port Talbot plant in the future if more government funding is allocated. The company's CEO, TV Narendran, the BBC reports .
Tata Steel's restructuring plans in the UK include cutting 2,800 jobs. Earlier this year, the company announced it would close the two blast furnaces at its Port Talbot steelworks by the end of this year, replacing them with an electric arc furnace.
TV Narendran said that the decision to close the blast furnaces was taken because the company did not obtain a return on investment over 15 years of operation and the production assets are reaching the end of their life cycle.
The Guardian notes that Tata's decision, along with British Steel's similar plan to close its blast furnaces in Scunthorpe, will mark a new era for the United Kingdom, as the country will no longer be able to produce steel from iron ore for the first time since the Industrial Revolution. The Indian company's Port Talbot project relies instead on the use of British scrap, as raw materials are currently mainly exported from the country.
Tata Steel CEO has confirmed that the company will consider investing in direct reduced iron (DRI) technology. The technology can be used in conjunction with an electric arc furnace and will create hundreds of jobs. However, this is only possible if the company is able to guarantee the supply of gas at a competitive price and then hydrogen with zero emissions.
Tata Steel is focused on restructuring its assets in Europe. The first phase of decarbonization in the Netherlands involves switching coke production to DRI.
