U.S. Steel Košice, a subsidiary of the global steel giant United States Steel Corporation and Czech utility group ČEZ have entered into a non-binding memorandum of cooperation to form a strategic partnership until 2025 with the possibility of extension. The memorandum concerns cooperation in the field of emission-free electricity, the construction of renewable sources, energy efficiency and savings and the development of climate-friendly innovative solutions.
“We want to keep the Košice operation in the first steel league and contribute to the decarbonisation of industry in Slovakia,” said U.S. Steel Košice president, Jim Bruno. “ČEZ and ESCO Slovakia [a subsidiary of ČEZ ESCO] would help ensure that our path to sustainable operation will be efficient, transparent and built on emission-free energy sources and innovative technologies.”
“ČEZ and U.S. Steel Košice are companies fully committed to protecting the climate and doing business responsibly and sustainably,” added Pavel Cyrani, deputy chairman of theČEZ board of directors. “ČEZ provides climate-neutral and energy-saving solutions to companies in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and other Central European countries. However, the decarbonisation of the steel industry is a new challenge and a very important task for us and for the whole of Europe.”
ESCO Slovakia will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the current state of energy in U.S. Steel Košice and its subsidiary Ferroenergy and, based on the conclusions of this analysis, will propose solutions that will bring energy savings and reduce emissions and energy costs.
In particular, the parties will carry out an analysis of cooperation on innovative and energy-saving solutions in the potential implementation of some decarbonisation projects; possibilities of supplying the energy-intensive operation of steel mills with purely emission-free electricity from nuclear and renewable sources; the construction of new renewable resources directly on the site of the steel mills; the introduction of additional measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by increasing energy efficiency; and, the use of subsidy titles for all above solutions.