18 | REGIONAL T T Kim Newth A new era of low-carbon steel making New Zealand Steel received the Large Energy User Initiative of the Year Award at the 2026 New Zealand Energy Excellence Awards. “New Zealand Steel has been a major player in our country’s energy system for 60 years – the team was very proud and humbled to win...” NZ Steel Glenbrook mill has reached a remarkable milestone as it starts making some of the world’s lowest-carbon steel using a custom-designed electric arc furnace (EAF). It marks the culmination of a $300 million project, the largest single-site industrial decarbonisation investment in New Zealand’s history. This investment has secured a bright future for steel making at Glenbrook as it builds on its decades-long legacy of high-quality steel production for the country’s infrastructure, construction, manufacturing and agricultural industries. The new furnace, which cuts Glenbrook’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 45%, is also a significant boost for New Zealand’s low carbon aspirations. This project is winning accolades for its vision and impact. In August, New Zealand Steel received the Large Energy User Initiative of the Year Award at the 2026 New Zealand Energy Excellence Awards. “New Zealand Steel has been a major player in our country’s energy system for 60 years – the team was very proud and humbled to win in that category,” says NZ Steel CE Robin Davies, noting the project also won the Infrastructure Decarbonisation Award at the recent Building Nations Impact Awards. Custom-designed by Italian technology supplier Danieli, the new EAF has an innovative hybrid operational configuration combining molten iron with scrap steel. This blended approach allows coal and iron ore raw material inputs to be effectively halved. That’s equivalent to removing 1% of the country’s annual carbon emissions, so it’s a meaningful contribution to domestic and international carbon reduction targets. BlueScope-owned NZ Steel invested over $160 million, with the Government providing another $140 million from its Investment in Decarbonising Industry fund. Contact Energy has signed a power-purchase agreement for the new furnace, while partners Sims and GMS are on board as scrap steel suppliers. “Projects of this scale and complexity are not possible without strong partnerships,” says Robin. “We would like to acknowledge our longstanding partner Ngāti Te Ata for their guidance and support; Contact Energy for working with us to design an innovative power supply contract for the EAF; Sims and GMS for the long-term scrap supply arrangements; KiwiRail and Sims for their role in making bespoke buckets to get the scrap to site via rail, and Danieli for being here all the way from Italy to support commissioning and bring world-class engineering solutions to our shores.” “Also officials at MBIE, MfE, and EECA for their collaboration throughout the project; and finally the community for getting in behind the project and sharing in the sense of pride we have around the significance of this to the country. “To make the first heat just over two years from breaking ground is a tremendous achievement by the entire team at the Glenbrook steelworks.” New Zealand Steel’s sister company Pacific Steel will be the first to bring the new lower carbon steel product to market. Later this year, PACIFIC™ will become the new standard: locally produced, proven over decades, and now delivered with significantly lower emissions. “PACIFIC DCRB® will go further still, setting a new benchmark for one of the lowest carbon products available for locally made reinforcing steel in New Zealand.” Custom-designed by Italian technology supplier Danieli, the new EAF has an innovative hybrid operational configuration combining molten iron with scrap steel.
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