The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in association with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), is organizing the “Green Steel Summit 2021”, the 1st edition of the two-day conference on June 17 & 18. In view of the ongoing pandemic, this conference is being organized online. The objective of this conference is to create a platform to disseminate knowledge and discuss the opportunities and issues in the Steel sector.
The iron and steel industries are among the most important industries in India. India’s crude steel and finished steel production increased to 108.5 MT and 101.03 MT in FY20, respectively. Between April 2020 and January 2021, India’s cumulative production of finished steel at 76.04 MT. For the period April 2020 and February 2021, India’s cumulative production of crude steel stood at 93.1 MT.
During the inaugural address, R K Rai, Secretary, Bureau of Energy Efficiency delivered the keynote address. “Sustainability is key for the long-term health of the steel industry. To maintain sustainable growth in the future, carbon-neutral is not an option but a necessity for the industry to pursue.”, he said. In pursuance of their ambit of assisting the industries, he mentioned that the Bureau of Energy Efficiency is planning to implement a demonstration unit on the sector-specific energy-efficient technologies.
ALSO READ: Indian online fashion industry grows 51% in FY21: Report
This demonstration unit will act as a catalyst in encouraging several other industries to replicate the same in their operations as well. He mentioned various engagements and projects being implemented for the MSME sector, nine sectors have been identified as energy-intensive sectors and 10 clusters have been identified for the iron & steel sector which are varying from geographical locations and technology deployed.
Once the benchmarking is carried out in all these clusters, in 2022, BEE is planning to launch a voluntary scheme for MSMEs viz. Perform, Achieve and Earn. Through this scheme, BEE will buy back the TOEs saved by the industries resulting in a double win situation for the MSME sector. He was hopeful that through this event, several cutting-edge technologies and best practices will be identified which will assist the large & medium scale industries in the sector in enhancing their energy efficiency drive.
Dr. Winfried Damm, Head -Energy, GIZ India, delivered the special address at the event. He highlighted that as the Iron & Steel sector is one of the most energy-intensive sectors and a major CO2 emitter, it is imperative to look at three aspects viz. to focus on energy efficiency practices, shift to CO2 neutral energy supply, and demand shift. He emphasized the importance of having a regulation in place by the Government as a mandate for the industries to be carbon neutral.
Vikram Agarwal, Managing Director, Prakash Industries Ltd in his special address mentioned that the production of energy-intensive primary steel can be avoided by increasing the collection and use of domestic scrap steel, which is approximately 85% less emission-intensive than primary steel. In a low carbon future, demand for scrap is likely to increase, given the reduced emissions through the secondary production route. If the pure stream of CO2 from the blast furnace route is captured using carbon capture use and storage route, then the emissions could also be reduced further.
Deb Kalyan Mohanty, Chairman, CII – Visakhapatnam Zone & Director (Commercial), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL), and P V Kiran Ananth, Principal Counsellor, CII-GBC were also present during the inaugural session.
The two-day virtual conference covering both integrated and SME steel plants aims to focus on, energy efficiency in process, utilities, and CPP sharing of emerging technologies and implemented case studies, Best operating practices in thermal & electrical system in large & medium steel industries, waste heat recovery opportunities in steel Industries and sustainability practices adopted in the steel industry including a presentation on Production of Green steel.
ALSO READ: ‘Post Covid world looks promising for India’s food processing industry’
The event has participation from over 150 distinguished speakers from leading manufacturers and technology providers from India and abroad, Government agencies, industry associations, and many other stakeholders and senior Industry professionals amongst many others.
SOURCE-NSS
