Decarbonising India's Steel: 3% Cost Increase with Integrated Clean Power and Green Hydrogen

A new report from TransitionZero finds that India's steel industry can cut emissions with only a 3% increase in production costs by combining round-the-clock carbon-free electricity with green hydrogen blending. The study, titled 'Green Steel, Hour by Hour,' uses hourly power system modeling for 2030 and shows that integrating 70% hourly clean electricity with 20% green hydrogen blending reduces solar curtailment by up to 90% and improves export competitiveness under carbon regulations like the EU CBAM. The report argues that coordinated planning of renewable energy and hydrogen production is more cost-effective than pursuing each strategy separately. Excess renewable power that would otherwise be wasted can be diverted to hydrogen production, lowering overall costs. This approach could help India's steel sector achieve deeper decarbonization while staying competitive in global markets increasingly shaped by carbon pricing.