The plant is near the mines in northern Sweden. They could in theory be transporting the hydrogen, but hydrogen can be a bit tricky to transport and it obviously would cost more money. The green hydrogen process is also fairly expensive right now (despite what people might say), and the cost is not just attached to the electricity price. They had a person from the project discuss the value proposition just a few weeks ago in Swedish news. Green steel need both subsidies and green credits, but even so the end cost is landing at a few percent higher than regular steel. The argument was that even if it cost more its better for the environment, and this is a pilot program so maybe the cost will continue down in the future.
Sure, but subsequent plants needn't be built in Northern Sweden. It would make a lot of sense to build them in other areas with lots of green power potential.
> Solar is a very cheap form of electricity but it has some significant problems to overcome that far up north.
Why would the hydrogen-reduced steel need to only be produced in Northern Sweden? It could just as well be produced somewhere with abundant solar.