India’s ministry of steel has officially unveiled an investment of $2.33 billion for capacity expansion of state-run steelmaker Steel Authority of India Limited’s Bokaro Steel Plant (BSP) to 7.55 million mt per year from 5.25 million mt at present, SAIL said in a statement on Wednesday, January 29.
“Minister of steel and heavy industries, H D Kumaraswamy, visited BSP where he unveiled an ambitious expansion plan to increase production capacity. With an investment of $2.33 billion, the brownfield expansion aims to increase pig iron production from the current 5.25 million mt per year to 7.55 million mt per year,” SAIL said in the statement.
BSP was established in 1965, with the first blast furnace operation in 1972, with an initial capacity of 1.7 million mt per year.
"The plant is now set for a massive overhaul with a new 4,500 cubic metre blast furnace, a thin slab casting and direct rolling facility, a calcining plant, a stamp-charge coke oven battery and a sinter plant expansion,” SAIL said.
Bokaro Steel Plant will reduce its carbon emissions from 2.67 mt per for every metric ton of crude steel produced to 2.2 mt for every metric ton of crude steel by 2030.
The plant is pursuing its renewable energy initiatives, which include 30 MW floating solar power generation, 20 MW land-based solar power, 100 MW renewable energy procured from Solar Energy Corporation of India through a power purchase agreement, the statement said.
It said that the company’s Tasra coal mine will be operational by September 2025 and produce 3.5 million mt of coking coal per year, ensuring raw material security and lower import dependency for the raw material.