Sanjeev Gupta, an industrialist whose family-owned GFG Alliance group of companies has been credited with resurrecting Britain’s steel industry, says he considered investing in coal generation in the state’s Upper Spencer Gulf after buying Arrium’s steel mill last year but found solar backed by “firming” storage technologies made better economic sense. [...]
Gupta’s position is consistent with the Australian energy market operator, which last week released a forecast that found renewable electricity backed by storage and gas would be the lowest cost replacement for the existing coal fleet. The market operator also found it was important to avoid early departures from the electricity grid to ensure an orderly transition. [...]
Gupta is making a series of investments as part of his bid to create Australia’s only fully integrated steel business. He bought the Whyalla mill in 2017 when then-owner Arrium was more than $4bn in debt and he is spending at least $1bn doubling its annual output to 2m tonnes. He plans to expand it further using his green steel model – an increased emphasis on recycling scrap steel and heavy investment in clean energy projects close to the plant. [...]
Beyond his existing commitments, Gupta is planning an electric car plant in South Australia or Victoria to produce 30,000 vehicles a year – “It’s 100% proceeding but the exact location is still being debated” – and said a proposed copper smelter and refinery for South Australia was at feasibility stage. His Australian steel assets picked up in the Arrium sale also include smaller works in Sydney and Melbourne and a planned new mill in Brisbane. He said all three would produce only recycled steel.
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