en.Wedoany.com Reported - Spain's Hydnum Steel has secured a €60 million grant from the Spanish government through the Ministry of Industry and Tourism and SEPIDES, funded by the EU's Next Generation EU fund, to build the first clean steel plant on the Iberian Peninsula. This grant comes from the fourth batch of the second phase of the Strategic Project for Industrial Decarbonization (PERTE), marking continued institutional support for the project.

The project timeline has been set, with construction planned to begin by the end of this year, while coordinating the acquisition of corresponding permits. This public support paves the way for a total investment of €1.65 billion. The project, headquartered in Puertollano, Ciudad Real province, Castilla-La Mancha, is expected to create over 5,000 jobs, including more than 1,000 direct jobs and 4,000 indirect jobs, promoting a fully digital, CO2-free advanced production model.

Since its announcement in 2023, the project has achieved key milestones, including securing 500 megawatts of national grid access capacity at the Brazatortas substation and signing sales agreements for 100% of its clean steel output for the first five years of operation. The project has been declared a Project of Singular Interest (Proyecto de Singular Interés, PSI) by the Castilla-La Mancha regional government and has received international recognition from the World Economic Forum. The industrial consortium includes partners such as Galician engineering company Russula, Germany's Siemens, Spain's ABEI Energy, and the UK's Primetals Technologies.

Hydnum Steel CEO Eva Manero stated that this PERTE decarbonization grant is a firm recognition of the project's scale and its key role in Europe's reindustrialization and strategic autonomy. As the largest project supported in this tender, it demonstrates the robustness and reliability of the roadmap, fully aligned with Spain's and the EU's industrial sovereignty, energy sovereignty, and decarbonization goals.

Compared to traditional blast furnace processes, the plant will reduce CO2 emissions by up to 98%, replacing fossil fuels with green hydrogen and electric arc furnaces powered by 100% renewable energy. The plant will utilize endless rolling technology (Arvedi ESP) for continuous hot-rolled strip production and integrate a Zero Liquid Discharge water circulation system, completely avoiding wastewater discharge and reducing freshwater consumption.