Decarbonising India’s steel is cheaper when clean power and green hydrogen are planned together, new analysis finds

LONDON, 23 July 2026: TransitionZero has today published Green steel, hour by hour, a new report finding that India’s electric and gas-based steelmaking routes can cut emissions for a cost premium of only around 3% when round-the-clock clean power and green hydrogen are pursued together rather than separately.

The report examines two near-term levers for decarbonising these routes: 24/7 carbon-free electricity (CFE) for electric arc and induction furnaces, and green hydrogen blending in gas-based direct reduced iron (DRI) production.

Its central finding is that the two levers are cheaper pursued together than apart. Surplus renewable generation built to meet round-the-clock clean power targets, which would otherwise be curtailed, can instead be redirected to produce green hydrogen. This co-optimisation cuts solar curtailment by up to 90% and lowers the cost of both.

Using hourly power-system modelling of India’s grid regions for 2030, the report finds that co-optimising 70% hourly CFE with 20% green hydrogen blending adds only around 3% to production costs for these routes, while cutting emissions and easing exposure to carbon border measures such as the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

Verity Crane, Heavy Industry Lead at TransitionZero, said:

“India’s 43% annual renewable target for steel understates what the sector can achieve. Moving to hourly carbon-free electricity displaces domestic coal, while green hydrogen blending cuts reliance on expensive imported gas. Leading steelmakers are already piloting both levers, but in silos. Integrated planning is the missing piece to unlock the full economic value of green steel.”

Key findings

• Pursuing 24/7 carbon-free electricity and green hydrogen blending together is cheaper than pursuing either in isolation.
• Redirecting surplus renewable generation to green hydrogen production cuts solar curtailment by up to 90%.
• Co-optimising 70% hourly CFE with 20% green hydrogen blending adds only around 3% to production costs for India’s electric and gas-based steelmaking routes.
• These levers cut emissions and ease exposure to carbon border measures such as the EU’s CBAM.

Webinar

TransitionZero will host a webinar, Green steel, hour by hour: decarbonising India’s steel, on Wednesday 2 September 2026 at 10am BST / 2:30pm IST. The panel will respond to the findings and discuss the policy and market conditions needed to realise this opportunity for Indian steel:

• Balasubramanian Viswanathan, Energy Officer, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll)
• Deepak Yadav, Senior Programme Lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW)
• Ankur Malyan, Manager, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)
• Irfan Mohamed, Senior Energy Systems Modeller, TransitionZero

The discussion will be moderated by Verity Crane, Heavy Industry Lead, TransitionZero. Register here.

Resources

The full report is available to download here, alongside two accompanying blogs covering the headline findings and the modelling methodology. The full model, input data and documentation are open source and free to download under MIT licence.

About TransitionZero

TransitionZero is a climate tech non-profit founded in 2021. TransitionZero builds software to reduce the time to build clean energy at scale. We pioneer open access and open source tools that make electricity system modelling more transparent, accessible, and actionable for governments, financiers and grid operators worldwide.

Our flagship tool, Scenario Builder, enables policymakers, planners and investors to rapidly build, analyse and share energy system and electricity grid models without coding expertise or external consultants. Supported by model-ready datasets, training and market insights, our tools strengthen in-house capacity and support resilient, affordable and locally-led energy transitions.

Since launching publicly in October 2025, Scenario Builder spans 16 countries and supports around 500 users from think tanks, government agencies, utilities, system operators, and financial institutions. TransitionZero is entirely grant-funded by leading climate philanthropies, including Google.org, Sequoia Climate Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the European Climate Foundation, among others. For more information, visit our website or contact us.