3D rendering of GravitHy's future site at Fos sur Mer. Image: GravitHy)
GravitHy, a future low-carbon iron producer, announces a €60 million funding round – which includes public funds from the French programme “Première Usine”.
The round brought in new worldclass investors: Ecolab, Japan Hydrogen Fund (a fund serviced by Advantage Partners), Marcegaglia, Rio Tinto, Siemens Financial Services, and additional investments from existing shareholders Engie New Ventures and InnoEnergy. The injection of fresh capital will enable GravitHy to finance its action plan, targeting a final investment decision after completing project development in 2026. It will also accelerate growth by securing key contracts, completing engineering, obtaining permits, and attracting top talent. GravitHy is already actively engaging with new potential investors to reinforce its capital structure and support its development towards construction and commercial phases. The future plant is scheduled to start commercial production in 2029, after an exhaustive commissioning phase and progressive pre-commercial ramp up, creating up to 500 direct jobs with an overall investment of 2.2 billion euros. It will be located on a 75-hectare site in the industrial zone of Fos-sur-Mer (France) and will produce 2 million tons of Direct Reduced Iron (DRI)/Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) every year – the equivalent of one Eiffel Tower a day. The electrolyzer producing the green and low carbon hydrogen used to reduce the iron ore will have a capacity of approximately 750 MW - the biggest in France, and one of the largest in the world. To supply the necessary power, GravitHy has made significant progress in securing part of the electricity supply to its future plant, signing a letter of intent (LOI) with EDF for a Nuclear Production Allocation Contract (CAPN) in 2024. The access to the planned extension of the electricity transmission infrastructure by RTE has been officially confirmed in the decennial network development plan, ensuring a secure and reliable execution. GravitHy was founded in 2022 as a pioneer in the emerging low-carbon iron market. The company will play a critical role to accelerate the decarbonization of the steel industry with DRI/HBI becoming a very important commodity in the future and traded on a global basis. According to the company, with this new funding, GravitHy is well-positioned to propose a faster and Capex-light solution to steelmakers eager to produce green steel while focusing on their core-business without having to invest heavily in the full H2-DRI value chain at their existing sites. Source: GravitHy