SSAB Oxelösund Electric Arc Furnace Conversion, Oxelösund

SSAB is replacing the blast furnaces at its Swedish plate mill with a single 190-ton electric arc furnace, and the building has outrun the power line it depends on. The Oxelösund conversion broke ground on 28 November 2023 with a budget of SEK 6.2 billion. Production is now scheduled for the second quarter of 2027, after two schedule moves.

The hold-up isn’t on site. An arc furnace this size needs a new high-voltage connection, and Vattenfall Eldistribution’s line was tied up in court over protected bird species. SSAB first moved start-up to early 2027, then warned in May 2026 of a further delay. Chief executive Johnny Sjöström called the situation extremely frustrating. The legal process ended during the second quarter of 2026.

Project Scope

SMS group is supplying the furnace, an AC unit with a 9.3-meter upper shell that the supplier ranks among the largest of its kind. It will run on scrap, hot briquetted iron and direct reduced iron. The order also covers automation and a digital twin of the plant.

NCC is the building contractor under a partnering agreement. A first order of about SEK 200 million in early 2024 covered planning and foundation work. A second, about SEK 400 million, followed that September for the furnace hall, a service hall, a switchgear and transformer building and an operator building, with staged handover through the first quarter of 2026.

SSAB’s SEK 6.2 billion covers the furnace and raw material handling. Industry reporting puts the grid work at roughly SEK 2 billion on top of that. Once the furnace is running, the blast furnaces and coke plant shut. Rolling and heat treatment carry on.

Why It Matters

SSAB says the switch will cut Sweden’s national carbon dioxide emissions by about 3 percent. That’s one plant. Few industrial projects anywhere can claim that kind of return on a single furnace.

It also makes Oxelösund the test case for something the steel industry keeps relearning. The furnace and the hall were the easy parts. The grid connection was outside the owner’s control and set the schedule anyway. SSAB’s far larger mini-mill at Luleå, due in late 2029, depends on the same permitting system. So does every other electrification project in the Nordics.

Owners planning arc furnaces should treat the power line as the critical path from day one. The courts won’t care when the steel is ready, and neither will the birds. A finished furnace hall with no power is a very expensive shed, and SSAB has had one on its hands for months.

Project Team & Details