A home for the new electric arc furnace: The building enclosure for the EAF is now under construction.

Construction of the electric steelmaking plant at the Linz site has made great progress as part of the greentec steel project. The new EAF steelmaking building that is currently under construction will house the Electric Arc Furnace 1 (EAF1). A look at the current status of construction shows how much has already been accomplished in recent months.

With a length of 100 meters, a width of 60 meters and a height of 65 meters, the new EAF building at the Linz location is a true giant that could house around 40 average single-family homes on the ground floor. A large number of projects must be coordinated in order to bring this giant to life. From the start of construction in the fall of 2024, the new building for Electric Arc Furnace 1 and its auxiliary systems quickly began to take shape. Each of the several construction sites has been making great progress: 

EAF building

Things are moving quickly: Construction of the main foundations of the EAF building is nearly finished. Ten of the twelve foundation sections have already been completed. The first building columns were delivered on time at the beginning of March, and pre-assembly is already in full swing.

Foundations for the electric arc furnace

The pouring of the pile foundations for the production equipment began in the middle of March and marked an exciting beginning of this phase. A total of 100 piles with a diameter of 90 centimeters and a length of roughly 13 meters are required for the foundations of the EAF and the adjacent auxiliary facilities.

LD3 building extension

Expansion of the existing steelmaking plant (LD3), which will house Secondary Metallurgy 5 (SecMet5) and the hot metal charging facility for the EAF, is also rapidly taking shape. Roughly 50% of the main support foundations have already been installed on schedule.

LD3 power substation

Construction work on the LD3 power substation in the north part of the steelworks has also begun. Preliminary excavation has commenced, and pouring of the pile foundations is scheduled to begin at the end of March.

Utility bridge

The new utility bridge for the cooling water supply of Vacuum Degassing System 4 (RH4) on the north side of the LD3 steelworks went into operation in the middle of March. Redundant supply was established in order to be able to carry out utility connections without any interruption to production operations. This has made it possible to complete construction site clearance by the time that the LD3 steelmaking plant is shut down on 25 April 2025.

Conclusion: Now going into the hot phase

The first building section will be completed by mid-July 2025, and the entire main hall structure will be done in April 2026. This will be another important step in the successful implementation of the ambitious greentec steel project.

Thanks to everyone on the team! We extend our thanks to the entire project team and all the companies involved, without whose commitment, expertise and cooperation such great progress would not be possible.

Go to greentec steel

The greentec steel project of voestalpine is an ambitious step-by-step plan that makes a valuable contribution to the achievement of the climate goals. As a first step, the voestalpine Group plans to replace two blast furnaces with two electric arc furnaces (EAFs) by the year 2027. The investment volume amounts to roughly 1.5 billion euros.   

Carbon emissions can be reduced by up to 30% as early as 2029 by making this switch from the blast furnace to the EAF. This corresponds to a savings of nearly 4 million tons of CO2 per year, amounting to nearly 5% of the carbon emissions in Austria. This makes greentec steel the largest climate protection program in Austria. 

The two electric-arc furnaces will enable voestalpine to produce roughly 2.5 million tons of carbon-reduced steel by the year 2027, roughly 1.6 million tons in Linz and 850,000 tons in Donawitz. Learn more about greentec steel here.