Boulder-based Electra powers up green ironmaking push
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Electra CEO and co-founder Sandeep Nijhawan talks about one of the metal sheets the company uses in its green ironmaking process Tuesday in Boulder County. Photo: Mitchell Byars/Axios
Boulder-based clean iron startup Electra is the first-ever recipient of the Colorado Industrial Tax Credit Offering (CITCO) — funding the company plans to put toward its new demonstration plant.
Why it matters: Will Toor, executive director of Colorado's Energy Office, said Electra's green iron technology could make the "single largest impact the state of Colorado has on climate change" by decarbonizing the ironmaking process.
The latest: Electra will receive about $8 million in refundable tax credits from CITCO, created in 2024 to incentivize "industrial facilities to explore and implement greenhouse gas emission reduction projects," according to the Colorado Energy Office.
- Electra recently announced it raised $186 million in its second major round of funding.
How it works: The company's CEO and co-founder Sandeep Nijhawan said Electra was started with the goal of creating a better way of producing iron and steel.
- Rather than using fossil fuels to smelt iron ore, Electra uses an acidic formula to dissolve the ore into a solution.
- Metal plates are inserted into the solution while an electric current runs through it, causing the iron to deposit onto metal plates.
- Nijhawan said the principle is used to extract most other metals, so the question was: "How can we apply this to ironmaking?"
Zoom in: Toor, a Boulder resident and a former Boulder County commissioner, told Axios he's excited "to see something that could have such an enormous global impact coming right out of innovation in the Boulder Valley."
- Staff from Colorado's Energy Office and members of the press toured Electra's headquarters Tuesday as part of the CITCO announcement.
The big picture: Steel is one of the most widely used construction materials, and the traditional smelting process is extremely energy-intensive, accounting for about 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions.
- Investors flocked to back green steel companies in 2021 and 2022.
Since then, President Trump has claimed his tariffs are helping Rust Belt cities make a comeback by revitalizing the old steel economy.
- Toor said he believes that "fundamental economics" will continue to drive investors to green ironmaking solutions.
What's next: Electra is in the pre-construction phase of its new demonstration facility at an undisclosed location in neighboring Jefferson County.
- The demonstration facility would showcase the technology on a larger scale to ensure the process is viable for commercial use.
- Nijhawan said the company hopes to have commercial plants running by the end of the decade.