ELEKTRA aims to accelerate the transition of steelmaking and other energy-intensive industries from fossil-fired heat to directly electrified, renewable-powered processes. The project addresses one of Europe’s most urgent industrial challenges: reducing emissions from sectors where high-temperature reactions, fossil carbon and large-scale energy use remain deeply embedded in production. By demonstrating electrified reforming, ammonia cracking and plasma-assisted CO₂ recycling in industrially relevant environments, ELEKTRA will show that key reactions in ironmaking can be redesigned around clean electricity, hydrogen carriers and circular carbon use.
In the long term, ELEKTRA is expected to contribute directly to climate-neutral steel production. Electrified top-gas reforming can replace fired reformers in natural-gas-based DRI, reducing combustion-related emissions and improving efficiency. Electrified ammonia cracking can provide high-purity hydrogen from renewable ammonia for large industrial users. Plasma-assisted CO₂ recycling can convert captured CO₂ into CO, allowing carbon to be reused as a reductant instead of being emitted or stored. Together, these solutions can reduce fossil fuel dependency, lower CO₂ intensity and support a circular steel value chain.
The project also has a strong energy-system impact. ELEKTRA technologies are designed to operate with renewable electricity and offer more flexible operation than conventional fired units. Steel plants and industrial clusters can therefore become active participants in the renewable energy system, using power purchase agreements, flexible loads and modular electrified units to match industrial demand with renewable electricity availability. In the 2030s, this controllable industrial demand can help de-risk renewable energy deployment while reducing exposure to volatile gas, coke and carbon prices.
At industrial scale, the expected impact is significant. The proposal identifies the potential for 40–60 MtCO₂ per year of avoided emissions in Europe by 2040 from the deployment of ELEKTRA-type units in steelmaking. At plant level, the technologies can generate major savings by reducing fuel use, coke consumption and ETS exposure. Deployment could also deliver substantial avoided operating costs at EU scale, while improving resilience against geopolitical energy risks and imported fossil feedstocks. This combination of environmental and economic benefits is essential for ensuring that climate-neutral steel is both technically possible and commercially credible.
ELEKTRA’s long-term impact goes beyond steel. Similar electrified reactors can be relevant for fertilisers, fuels, chemicals, refineries, cement and non-ferrous metallurgy, where fossil-fired reactors and CO₂-rich streams are common. By providing industrial benchmarks for electrified reforming, ammonia cracking and CO₂ utilisation, ELEKTRA can support replication across European industrial clusters and multiply the benefits through shared renewable-electricity, hydrogen-carrier and carbon-recycling infrastructure.
Finally, ELEKTRA will contribute to European leadership in clean industrial technologies. The consortium brings together technology developers, energy suppliers, infrastructure operators, industrial end-users, engineering partners and assessment experts, creating a strong basis for scale-up and commercialisation. Its results will support investors, policy makers and standardisation bodies with validated data on emissions reduction, energy savings, safety and integration, helping Europe build competitive value chains for electrified reactors, hydrogen technologies and circular carbon solutions.
