POSCO Group has announced plans to build a hydrogen-reduction steelmaking demonstration plant in Pohang with an annual capacity of 300,000 metric tons by 2028. The project uses its HyREX process, which replaces coal with hydrogen to reduce iron ore and can cut carbon emissions compared with conventional blast furnaces. POSCO also wants to build a clean hydrogen supply chain and link industrial complexes in Pohang and Ulsan into a steel decarbonization cluster, with later expansion to Gwangyang. The company says commercialization will require large-scale power supply and a reliable source of clean hydrogen. It is asking the government to help create demand through standardization and expanded green procurement for low-carbon steel. The pilot is a meaningful test of whether hydrogen steelmaking can move beyond pilot scale and into commercial reality. For anyone tracking industrial decarbonization, the key details to watch are the hydrogen source, the electricity supply, and how the carbon accounting for green steel is defined.
