Steel Mills
Nucor Sedalia Mill to Open in December
Written by Sandy Williams
November 19, 2019
Favorable winds are blowing for Nucor Steel in Missouri. The company will start production at its new rebar micro-mill in Sedalia, Mo., by the end of December powered by clean energy provided by Evergy Inc.
Evergy has plans to build a windfarm at the Sedalia site that will offset 100 percent of the energy used by the mill. When the yet-to-be officially announced windfarm is completed, Nucor Sedalia will be the first steel production plant in the United States to run on wind energy.
Nucor and Evergy entered into a 75-megawatt power purchase for the $400 million plant. The decision to locate in Sedalia was predicated on proximity to a good source of scrap steel and the customer base Nucor plans to serve, as well as access to a competitive fixed and long-term electrical rate.
In June 2017 a new law was signed in Missouri giving electric rate discounts to industries, like steel and aluminum, that consume large quantities of energy. Former Gov. Eric Greitens announced the signing of the bill on Facebook saying, “I wanted to let you know we signed the Steel Mill Bill. So now, we’re going to be able to bring a steel mill and hundreds of quality jobs to the state of Missouri.”
Evergy is part of the Southwest Power Pool, which is targeting 37,000 megawatts of wind and solar generation within the next 10 years. Currently, SPP has 22,000 MW of wind capacity in its system, which it plans to increase to 30,000 MW. Solar energy generation, at less than 200 MW now, is projected to increase to 7,000 MW by the end of the 10-year program.
The Sedalia mill will initially be powered by a combination of fossil and renewable energy that will become greener as SPP completes a host of sustainable energy projects. The new mill will have an electric arc furnace and production capacity of 350,000 tons of rebar annually.
“Of all the utilities in the U.S., we might be the best positioned to use wind for economic development,” said Chuck Caisley, a senior vice president at Evergy.
Sandy Williams
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