Stefan Savonen

Group Manager Energy & Climate, LKAB

Stefan Savonen is Group Energy & Climate Manager at Europe’s largest iron ore company, LKAB. He has more than 25 years of experience in the field of energy and climate change, having worked at both national and EU level in the mining industry, energy sector and academia.

LKAB’s transition to becoming a producer of fossil-free sponge iron using hydrogen gas instead of fossil fuels entails a large need for fossil-free electric power in the coming years. Even if the transition takes place in stages, the challenge is gigantic, as more than 70 TWh of new electricity will be needed around 2050 to produce the hydrogen needed for LKAB’s transition. The electrification and transition to hydrogen is a prerequisite for meeting the climate challenge and LKAB’s transition alone will result in reduced carbon dioxide emissions in the iron and steel value chain of between 40-50 million tons per year, which is as much as Sweden’s total annual emissions today.

The Swedish industry’s transition and electrification will affect both the energy system and the electricity market, while at the same time there are different ways to solve the energy puzzle of the future and here LKAB, as the largest Swedish electricity user of the future, has a key role.