Decarbonising the Steel Industry | World’s Largest Thermal Energy Storage | Disruptive Innovation - MITO INSIGHTS #17
MITO Technology
Our ambition is to capture innovation when it is still barely visible and turn it into a game-changer.
In this edition, we explore key topics in the green transition: McKinsey’s insights on decarbonising steel, a groundbreaking thermal energy storage project in Finland, and a deep dive into the concept of disruptive innovation. Additionally, we look at where emissions are coming from, and examine China’s massive energy storage procurement.
KEY NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
McKinsey on Decarbonising Steelmaking
To decarbonize while meeting demand, steel players need to find alternatives to highly emissive Blast Furnace / Oxygen plants: this might include making DRI with green hydrogen (potentially using natural gas as a bridge fuel), using premelters powered by renewable energy and electric-arc furnaces (EAFs) to make steel, and then incorporating carbon capture solutions. An investment thesis definitely supported at MITO Technology.
World’s Largest Thermal Energy Storage to Be Built in Finland
An engineering wonder which could lead to similar initiatives in the future, provided proper natural conditions are offered: a seasonal thermal energy storage facility to be built in Vantaa's bedrock, where a total of three caverns about 20 meters wide, 300 meters long and 40 meters high will be excavated (100 meters below ground level). These underground caverns will be filled with hot water (up to 140 degrees) without the water boiling or evaporating. Staggering figures in play: total volume is >1 million cubic meters, capacity of the fully charged seasonal thermal energy storage is 90 gigawatt-hours, for (only) 200m Euro estimated in project costs.
What is Disruptive Innovation?
领英推荐
An updated version of a world-famous piece from HBR on the matter. Uber is clearly transforming the taxi business in the United States: but is it disrupting the taxi business? According to the theory, the answer is no. The rest for avid strategy readers here below.
Where Do Emissions Come From? For visual data-lovers, a recent publication with impactful charts explaining greenhouse gas emissions by sector, over the period 1990-2021 (the post-Covid rebound). Global emissions grew by 51% over that period.
The Tender That Marks the Largest Energy Storage Procurement in China’s History
PowerChina receiving bids for 16 GWh BESS tender with an average price of $66.3/kWh. This has seemingly broader consequences, at least for the country: AI is going to be very cheap in China, since at these prices you get 16 hours of storage for $1/W, and instead of putting 1.2-1.3 GW of solar on a 1 GW connection, you can put 4-5.
MITO INSIGHTS is our weekly newsletter! From time to time, we take stance on the most controversial issues of our job, as advisors on a mission to give our contribution to Net Zero. With MITO INSIGHTS we share our thoughts with the aim of stimulating a debate and avoiding that certain topics lose centrality in the collective undertaking a transition towards a more sustainable world.