Evraz will produce “the cleanest steel in the world” in the US

The Evraz plant in the American city of Pueblo (Colorado) will almost completely switch to solar energy. The $285 million Bighorn battery will be launched this week. Thanks to her, the company, according to her statement, will produce "the cleanest steel and metal structures in the world."

The 750,000-panel Bighorn solar array, developed by Lightsource BP, will provide nearly 90% of the plant's energy needs, according to the Financial Times. Without this energy transition, Evraz would most likely have closed production, the newspaper notes. Cheap solar energy will help not only preserve it, but even expand it.

Lightsource BP, Evraz and energy company Xcel signed a 20-year contract, the details of which were not disclosed. But Lightsource BP is known to be able to produce electricity for less than $0.03 per kilowatt-hour, well below the cost of electricity from fossil fuels.

The Evraz plant in Pueblo was founded in 1881 and has played a significant role in the development of the American West, according to the company's website. For several years, the issue of its closure was decided. Now the company intends to expand production by investing $500 million in it and creating another 300 jobs (now the plant employs about a thousand people).

Evraz's "green" strategy

The transition of the plant in Pueblo to solar energy is part of Evraz's environmental strategy until 2030. about it in March . Alexey Ivanov, the company's senior vice president for commerce and business development, told Kommersant

The strategy, in particular, provides that:

• in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, Evraz steel companies in Russia and North America should reduce their performance by 20% by 2030 compared to 2019;

• the company's coal mining assets plan to achieve 75% utilization of methane produced during degassing of coal seams;

• Emissions from Evraz's steel plants are to be reduced by 33%;

• coal enterprises should reduce dust emissions from transportation and storage of coal by 1.5 times;

• in water use, Evraz plans to switch to a closed cycle in steel production, that is, to achieve zero discharges;

• 95% of the company's metallurgical and general waste and 50% of mining waste will be recycled.