Chinese electric arc furnace industry

The Chinese electric arc furnace industry and new energy industry are accelerating deep integration under the guidance of the 'dual carbon' strategy. The strong demand for high-performance materials in the new energy industry has brought significant market opportunities to the electric arc furnace industry, especially the continuous expansion of vacuum electric arc furnaces in fields such as new energy vehicle battery materials and photovoltaic equipment components. Short process steelmaking using electric arc furnaces, with significant environmental benefits and high energy efficiency, is highly in line with the green and low-carbon development direction of the new energy industry. Since 2025, with policy support, the development speed has significantly accelerated. At the technical level, green technologies such as intelligent electric arc furnace energy management system, hydrogen assisted smelting technology, waste heat recovery and flue gas purification have been commercialized, promoting the transition of electric arc furnaces from traditional equipment to quantum arc furnaces and significantly improving energy utilization efficiency. In terms of industrial synergy, new energy and electric arc furnaces have formed upstream and downstream linkage, the recycling and utilization system of scrap steel resources has been improved to support the increase in the proportion of electric furnace steel, and the carbon emission trading system has reshaped the profit model of electric furnace enterprises. The regional layout presents a pattern of 'high-end development in the east, large-scale development in the central region, and filling gaps in the west', forming synergy with the distribution of new energy industry bases. Overall, the integration of the two industries is moving from technological complementarity to deep integration of the industrial chain, providing core support for the green transformation of the metallurgical and energy sectors. It is expected that the depth of integration will be further enhanced during the 15th Five Year Plan period.