Gill Furniss MP visits Blackburn Meadows, celebrating next step towards decarbonising Sheffield steel

Last month, we had the pleasure of welcoming the Labour MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, Gill Furniss, to celebrate  the completion of the Hydrogen Decarbonisation of Sheffield Steel (HYDESS) study, a government-funded project at our Blackburn Meadows plant in Sheffield, focusing on hydrogen deployment in the local area 

Operating as a waste wood fuelled heat and power plant since 2014, Blackburn Meadows uses UK-sourced waste wood to generate power for the South Yorkshire region. In many ways it is a symbol for the UK’s ongoing transition from fossil fuels to renewables, and the visit provided a strong setting and ideal opportunity to discuss a next step in the plant’s sustainability journey, as well as the city’s 300-year history as producer of world class steel. 

Blackburn Meadows: A symbol for the energy transition 

Located just inside the Sheffield city border at Tinsley, the Blackburn Meadows site hosted its first coal-fired power station in 1921, before expanding to include two iconic hyperboloid cooling towers in the 1930s. The plant was originally built to support steel production in the Lower Don Valley, and contributed to Sheffield’s position as one of the UK’s leading industrial cities until it was closed and mostly demolished in 1980, leaving only the iconic “Tinsley Towers” which were brought down in 2008. 

After this, Blackburn Meadows was ready for a new phase, and in 2011 we completed plans to build the biomass-fuelled heat and power plant that stands on the site today. Replacing the Tinsley Towers was a black-and-orange-clad cuboid that at night glows over the city like an enormous lantern, a water meadow to promote biodiversity and control flood waters in the area, and a visitors’ center providing information on how the plant works. In 2017, we paved the way for industrial battery storage in the UK when we brought online a 10MW battery at the site. Capable of responding to changes in demand and delivering power to the grid in just one second, it has since been working to balance the energy system for a renewables-focused future. 

Today, the Blackburn Meadows plant provides power and heat to thousands of homes and businesses including IKEA, Sheffield Arena, and - keeping the city’s proud industrial history alive - Forgemasters’ Steel Works. Finding viable ways to reduce steel production’s carbon footprint has long posed a challenge to manufacturers, but last year we launched HYDESS with the University of Sheffield, Chesterfield Special Cylinders, Glass Futures, and Forgemasters Steel to explore the potential for using Blackburn Meadows to produce low carbon hydrogen for industrial use. Now, we’re excited to share our progress and take next steps towards decarbonising Sheffield’s steel industry. 

Helping to decarbonise Sheffield steel 

The steelmaking process requires melting materials at extremely high temperatures that are difficult to achieve with electricity alone. However, through a process known as electrolysis, we can use electricity produced at Blackburn Meadows to produce hydrogen and supply it to local steel producers as a fuel to reach the extremely high temperatures needed for melting iron ore. 

Working alongside Sheffield’s Steel Industry and other partners we have found that switching to hydrogen produced at Blackburn Meadows could cut carbon emissions considerably compared to natural gas. Between Chesterfield Special Cylinders, and Forgemasters Steel, that would mean reducing emissions by roughly 3,500 tons each year, and we’ll continue to work in partnership with the Government to help make this a commercially viable development and provide Sheffield’s Industry with a long term sustainable future. 

Blackburn Meadows: One step to decarbonising Sheffield 

Just as in other UK cities such as Coventry, we are working hard to help Sheffield decarbonise while maintaining the industry and history that have made it great. Providing biomass-fuelled heat and power, battery storage, and potentially hydrogen from our plant in Blackburn Meadows makes up a big part of these efforts. But we are also spearheading urban decarbonisation with a whole range of initiatives such as expanding the City’s existing heat network, helping schools install solar panels, expanding EV charging infrastructure, and supporting Sheffield City Council in making the city’s homes warmer through the Green Homes Grant Scheme. 

At this crucial moment in the energy transition, we hope that Gill Furniss MP’s visit to this symbol of progress towards sustainability will mark a new and exciting phase in the journey to net zero for Blackburn meadows, the city of Sheffield, and the entire UK. 

To learn more about our work decarbonising Sheffield, follow this link.