WA Government wants its projects to be built with local green steel

The WA Government has announced Expressions of Interest for local green steel to be used on major government projects.

The government says that exporting green iron precursors to green steel is a major opportunity for WA to add value to its raw iron ore exports, with government support currently being provided to projects in Kwinana, the Mid West and the Pilbara.

Procuring green steel for government projects provides an additional opportunity to develop a locally manufactured green steel recycling industry, with feedstock including decommissioned mining and offshore oil and gas plants.

According to Premier Roger Cook, this means green steel could be used in an array of major government works, including railways, roads and transmission lines, as well as future hospital building projects.

As part of new, soon-to-be-introduced local sourcing requirements, the government will take an ‘if not, why not’ approach to procurement that will explicitly preference WA-made green steel.

To support this, the government will also:

• publish a Western Australian Industry Participation Strategy (WAIPS) Addendum for steel, which will introduce stronger expectations for local sourcing, recognise the role of recycled and low-emissions steel, and insist on value-for-money assessments;
• increase the supply of local steel to government projects including those in the health, transport and clean energy sectors;
• release an open-market Expression of Interest for a green-steel product to supply those projects and programs;
• issue directions to Western Power, Synergy, and Horizon Power under the Government Trading Enterprises Act 2023 that will drive local content procurement.
   

“Locally made green steel is a key part of my vision to become a renewable energy powerhouse and make more things here,” said Premier Roger Cook. “This announcement is a signal of intent to this new green steel industry: we want you here.

“We want to decarbonise, and we want the jobs it creates to kick off a whole new industry for WA by using the power of government procurement. It’ll mean that when we build government projects, we’re not just creating jobs in construction — we’re creating them in manufacturing.”

Image credit: iStock.com/sawaeng wonglakorn