Nucor Introduces Elcyon™, First Sustainable Steel Product Engineered Specifically for Offshore Wind Energy Applications

"Clean Steel for Clean Energy" will be manufactured at new $1.7 billion plant in Brandenburg, Kentucky

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nucor (NYSE: NUE) today introduced Elcyon™, the Company's new sustainable heavy gauge steel plate product made specifically to meet the growing demands of America's offshore wind energy producers building the green economy and its necessary infrastructure. Nucor will manufacture Elcyon at the company's new, $1.7 billion state-of-the-art Nucor Brandenburg steel mill in Kentucky, which produced its first steel plate at the end of December 2022. 

"By launching Elcyon at Brandenburg we have effectively created the first domestic supply chain of sustainable steel for our nation's offshore wind energy industry," said Leon Topalian, Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nucor Corporation. "As demand for alternative energy sources like offshore wind continues to grow and manufacturers push for larger turbines, Elcyon's larger and thicker plate sizes will help the United States become a leader in offshore wind production."

Elcyon is a clean, advanced steel product made using Nucor's recycled scrap-based electric arc furnace manufacturing process. Nucor's circular steelmaking route has a greenhouse gas emissions intensity that is one fifth the global blast furnace extractive steelmaking average, based on Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Utilizing Thermo-Mechanical Controlled Processing (TMCP) at the new mill, Elcyon, the only steel of its kind in the United States was created specifically to meet the rigorous quality standards of offshore wind energy designers, manufacturers and fabricators. Along with meeting Euronorm specs, Elcyon is characterized by larger plate dimensions, improved weldability and excellent fracture toughness, as compared to competing products.

Elcyon will be an essential component of the supply chain to continue developing our nation's offshore wind power infrastructure. The recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included $300 billion for clean energy development and climate programs, supports the Biden Administration's goal to build 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030. This could result in approximately 7.5 million tons of additional steel demand and create enough clean energy to power 10 million homes.

Nucor Steel Brandenburg is the first steel plant in the world to pursue certification under LEED v4 from the U.S. Green Building Council, the highest standard for sustainable building design, construction, and operation. The new mill is located in the middle of the largest steel plate-consuming region in the country and will be able to produce 97% of plate products consumed domestically, with a potential output of 1.2 million tons of steel annually.

Elcyon and the Brandenburg mill both draw upon Nucor's 50 years of industry leadership in sustainable steel production. From last year's launch of Econiq™, the world's first net-zero steel available at scale, to recently becoming the first major industrial company to join the United Nations 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Global Compact, Nucor has consistently worked to meet the needs of its customers and other stakeholders while protecting the well-being of our planet.

"We continue to invest and build the recycled steel facilities that will help make our clean energy future a reality," said Johnny Jacobs, Vice President and General Manager of Nucor Steel Brandenburg. "Our Elcyon steel plate is another example of Nucor's commitment to sustainability and our focus on providing a differentiated value proposition by making products that no one else is making."

Nucor expects to offer Elcyon in a wide range of plate grades and sizes, working closely with end users to meet their unique needs and specifications.

Nucor and its affiliates are manufacturers of steel and steel products, with operating facilities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Products produced include: carbon and alloy steel -- in bars, beams, sheet and plate; hollow structural section tubing; electrical conduit; steel racking; steel piling; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; fabricated concrete reinforcing steel; cold finished steel; precision castings; steel fasteners; metal building systems; insulated metal panels; overhead doors; steel grating; and wire and wire mesh. Nucor, through The David J. Joseph Company, also brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron and hot briquetted iron / direct reduced iron; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap. Nucor is North America's largest recycler.

Certain statements contained in this news release are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties which we expect will or may occur in the future and may impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. The words "anticipate," "believe," "expect," "intend," "project," "may," "will," "should," "could" and similar expressions are intended to identify those forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's best judgment based on current information, and, although we base these statements on circumstances that we believe to be reasonable when made, there can be no assurance that future events will not affect the accuracy of such forward-looking information. As such, the forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may vary materially from the projected results and expectations discussed in this news release. Factors that might cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: (1) competitive pressure on sales and pricing, including pressure from imports and substitute materials; (2) U.S. and foreign trade policies affecting steel imports or exports; (3) the sensitivity of the results of our operations to prevailing market steel prices and changes in the supply and cost of raw materials, including pig iron, iron ore and scrap steel; (4) the availability and cost of electricity and natural gas, which could negatively affect our cost of steel production or result in a delay or cancellation of existing or future drilling within our natural gas drilling programs; (5) critical equipment failures and business interruptions; (6) market demand for steel products, which, in the case of many of our products, is driven by the level of nonresidential construction activity in the United States; (7) impairment in the recorded value of inventory, equity investments, fixed assets, goodwill or other long-lived assets; (8) uncertainties surrounding the global economy, including excess world capacity for steel production, inflation and interest rate changes; (9) fluctuations in currency conversion rates; (10) significant changes in laws or government regulations affecting environmental compliance, including legislation and regulations that result in greater regulation of greenhouse gas emissions that could increase our energy costs, capital expenditures and operating costs or cause one or more of our permits to be revoked or make it more difficult to obtain permit modifications; (11) the cyclical nature of the steel industry; (12) capital investments and their impact on our performance; (13) our safety performance; and (14) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and any variants of the virus. These and other factors are discussed in Nucor's regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" of Nucor's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release speak only as of this date, and Nucor does not assume any obligation to update them, except as may be required by applicable law.

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SOURCE Nucor Corporation