Decision to be made on Port Talbot’s new electric arc furnace next week

Lewis Smith, local democracy reporter

A decision over plans to install a new electric arc furnace at Tata Steel’s Port Talbot site is expected to be made next week.

The plans which have been handed in by the Indian based steel giants will soon go before a Neath Port Talbot Council planning committee, where members will decide whether or not to approve proposals to develop a new electric arc furnace.

If approved, the plans would see Tata Steel’s £1.25bn green steel-making project, which is described as being of “national strategic importance”, commence in quarter three of 2025 with an estimated completion time of three years.

Demolition

It will see the demolition of a number of existing buildings and structures within the current steelworks boundary, along with the construction of the new electric arc furnace, built by the Italian firm Tenova, which is expected to be one of the biggest of its kind in the world.

The announcement comes just months after the closure of the site’s two massive blast furnaces in September 2024 with around 2,000 redundancies expected for local workers as a result.

It also comes just weeks after the announcement that UK construction and civil engineering company Sir Robert McAlpine will be responsible for managing the main civil, structural and building works for the development if it is approved.

Scrap steel

While operations with the electric arc will mean no “virgin steel” created from scratch can be made at the site moving forward, and not as many members of staff will be required to run it, plans say the new furnace will still have a capacity to produce millions of tonnes of steel each year through melting scrap steel.

The plans, which have been recommended for approval by council officers, will now go before the committee for a decision on February 18, 2025.