EuroWire January 2015

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company it also will be the only US pellet producer with the capability and exibility to produce standard blast furnace pellets as well as uxed and direct-reduced grade pellets. Annual production capacity of seven million tons is planned for Nashwauk. Committed customers reportedly include ArcelorMittal USA and Essar Steel Algoma. † The US Department of Commerce on 14 th November con rmed steep duties on imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from China after ruling that the products were being sold below cost in the US market and received unfair levels of government subsidies. US importers of goods from companies including Benxi Steel, Rizhao Steel Wire Co, Hunan Valin Xiangtan Iron & Steel Co, and Jiangsu Shagang International Trade Co, a subsidiary of Jiangsu Shagang Group, face anti-dumping duties of up to 110.25 per cent and anti-subsidy duties of up to 193.31 per cent.

Steel

Call it a non-relocation allowance: $30.7 million in grants from Pennsylvania to keep United States Steel in Pittsburgh It seems that the very possibility of losing a prestigious big company is enough to prompt a US state to o er substantial inducements not to move. In October, Governor Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania acknowledged that an award of $30.7 million in grants to secure a commitment from United States Steel Corp to stay put was based on fears – not any clear indications – that USS would exit the state. As reported in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review , USS had never said publicly that it was looking to pull up stakes in Pennsylvania. But there had been speculation about a relocation elsewhere in the region when the lease of its downtown Pittsburgh headquarters complex expires in 2017. “I think they were considering it,” said Mr Corbett. He cited Illinois and Indiana, where USS has its largest mill, as states to which he thought the company might move. Now, grants in hand, USS will go ahead on a $187 million rehabilitation project at its Mon Valley Works plants in West Mi in, Braddock and Clairton. (“With $30.7 Million in State Grants, US Steel Promises to Stay in Pennsylvania,” 3 rd October) Melissa Daniels of the Tribune-Review noted that USS – “a Fortune 500 company somewhat down on its luck” – announced its decision to stay in Pennsylvania on a date designated National Manufacturing Day statewide. “I look at [USS] as partners with Pennsylvania and partners with Pittsburgh,” Mr Corbett said at one of the events. “To me, it would’ve been extremely demoralising if US Steel’s headquarters left Pittsburgh.” The assistance for its capital projects will be welcome to the nation’s second-largest steel producer, which has not turned a pro t in ve years. In April 2013 USS commenced an intensive cost-cutting review of its operations. In September 2014 it scrapped $800 million in expansion projects in the US and led for court protection from creditors of its money-losing Canadian subsidiary. † Steve Kratz, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, said that the USS award was the outcome of some six months of discussions and that the timing of its announcement had nothing to do with Mr Corbett’s re-election campaign. In November, Mr Corbett won a second term as governor anyway. Elsewhere in steel . . . † Essar Steel Minnesota LLC has said that it is on schedule to begin producing iron ore pellets in the second half of 2015. The company closed on a nancing package for the $1.8 billion project on 30 th September, enabling it to complete construction of its open-pit iron ore mine and crushing, concentrating, and pelletising facilities at Nashwauk. As reported by the Hibbing Daily Tribune (25 th October), Essar has said it expects to be the lowest-cost producer of taconite pellets in North America. According to o cials of the

Energy

Is the ‘bit player’ solar power about to shine? Statistics suggest that the US will soon have no reason not to go solar

Tim McDonnell, who has the climate beat at the non-pro t news magazine Mother Jones , recently cited the “startling conclusion” of a Deutsche Bank energy analysis: by 2016, in all but three states of the US solar power will be as cheap as or cheaper than electricity from the conventional grid. Without any changes to existing policy. In other words, wrote Mr McDonnell: “We’re only a few years away from the point where, in most of the United States, there will be no economic reason not to go solar.” (“Here Comes the Sun: America’s Solar Boom,” 7 th November) The process is well under way. Over the past decade, the amount of solar energy produced in the US has leaped 139,000 per cent. Factors fostering the boom include cheaper panels, a raft of local and state incentives, and a federal tax credit that shaves 30 per cent o the cost of upgrading to solar. † Since the mid-2000s the power generated by new solar installations in the US has grown an average 66 per cent a year, far outpacing that from any other energy source. From zero in 2000, the capacity of new solar installations grew to nearly 5,000 megawatts (MW) in 2013. Of the new electrici- ty-generating capacity installed in the US in the rst quarter of 2014, solar accounted for 70 per cent; wind, 20 per cent; natural gas, four per cent; geothermal and other, one per cent each. (Source: SOLAR Energy Industries Association [SEIA]) † Enough sunlight strikes Earth every 104 minutes to power the entire world for a year. The US has sunlight and space enough to meet 100 times its annual power demand with solar. (Source: SEIA) † As well as more power, solar can provide cleaner power. Carbon savings from currently installed US solar panels o set the emissions of 3.5 million cars. (Source: International Energy Agency [IEA]) Mother Jones collected this data on the solar advance:

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January 2015