Orsted has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with steel producer Salzgitter to supply renewable hydrogen.
The MoU sets out how Salzgitter and Orsted are aiming to establish closed value chains in their business relationships.
The strategic cooperation spans the supply of offshore wind power and the use of renewable hydrogen, the production of low-carbon steel and its use in the components for Orsted’s offshore wind farms.
There are also plans to recycle scrap from decommissioned wind turbines into the steel production process.
Salzgitter chairman Gunnar Groebler said: “The drive in society for climate neutrality is our incentive for the rapid further development of the company with a focus on circularity, the principle of low-carbon and resource-saving closed value chains.
“We’ll anchor this firmly in our partnerships.
“Together, we want to provide the necessary impetus for change and successfully drive it forward. The partnership with Orsted is an important element in the formation of our partner network.
“Together with Orsted, we’re showing that circularity is becoming a reality on an industrial scale.”
Orsted chief commercial officer and deputy CEO Martin Neubert said: “We have a target of making our own operations climate-neutral by 2025, thereby becoming the first major energy company to reach net-zero emissions.
“We want to achieve the same for our indirect carbon emissions by 2040.
“As a supplier of green power and as a large offtaker of steel, we consider the partnership with Salzgitter AG a great opportunity to move a step closer to reaching this target.
“A circularity partnership like the one we’re striving for will set the trend for the decarbonisation of the German industry. And offshore wind power is one of the most important levers to achieve this.”