Steel Authority of India eyes up digital transformation
Plan are afoot to digitally optimise ironmaking and steelmaking at the Rourkela Steel Plant in the Odisha state, India.
The Steel Authority of India Limited has signed a digital transformation agreement with ABB.
Digital twins will be developed of the existing blast furnaces and steel melt shop, while data-driven models will be used to assess opportunities for optimising ironmaking and steelmaking in line with sustainability improvements.
The plant will exchange data with ABB India to prepare data-based models for the digital twins.
Rourkela Steel Plant produced 4.08Mt of saleable steel products in the financial year from 2024-25 and plans to grow output to about 9Mt by 2030 to meet escalating market demands, as India’s steel industry sees significant growth.
Meanwhile, Global Energy Monitor’s 2025 Pedal to the Metal report, reveals that the global steel sector is on track to reach 36% of steelmaking capacity via lower-emissions electric arc furnaces (EAF) by 2030, but this progress hinges on India, now home to more than 40% of all planned steelmaking capacity and over half of planned coal-based capacity.
