Tata Steel Steps Up Construction Of £1.25bn Port Talbot Electric Furnace

Construction of Tata Steel’s £1.25bn electric arc furnace at Port Talbot has entered a new phase, with contractors beginning work on the permanent buildings and infrastructure that will underpin lower-carbon steelmaking at the South Wales site.

Sir Robert McAlpine, the main works contractor, said it had completed the first major piling package, using more than 700 precast piles for structures including a new fume extraction plant and the conveyor system that will feed scrap steel into the furnace.

A second phase is under way, with six piling rigs and two pre-bore rigs operating across the site. Foundations are now being installed for the electric arc furnace itself and other equipment.

The work marks a significant stage in Tata’s transition away from traditional blast furnace steelmaking at Port Talbot. The last blast furnace was shut in September 2024, ending more than a century of conventional steelmaking at the site.

The new furnace will use electricity to melt scrap steel rather than producing iron using coal-intensive blast furnaces. Tata expects the facility to have annual production capacity of about 3mn tonnes and to begin commissioning towards the end of 2027.

The £1.25bn project is supported by a £500mn UK government grant, with Tata funding the remainder. The government says the transition will secure about 5,000 jobs across Tata’s UK operations, although the move away from blast furnaces has also resulted in significant job losses at Port Talbot.

Tata estimates the electric furnace will cut the plant’s carbon emissions by about 90 per cent, equivalent to roughly 5mn tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Port Talbot was previously the UK’s largest single industrial carbon emitter.

Work is also progressing on the infrastructure needed to supply the power-intensive furnace. National Grid is building a new substation, while four electrical buildings are planned to distribute electricity around the steelworks.

A 130-metre-plus Consteel conveyor will meanwhile process and continuously feed scrap into the furnace. Construction has also begun on a fume extraction plant designed to capture and filter emissions from the new steelmaking process.

The transformation is a central part of the government’s efforts to decarbonise Britain’s steel industry, for which ministers have pledged up to £2.5bn of additional support during this parliament.