Energy

Our Commitment to Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency remains a key focus of Cleveland-Cliffs’ environmental strategy. As an energy intensive business, it’s critical that Cliffs is a responsible energy consumer. We continue to pursue opportunities to develop our portfolio of renewable investments, and internally we recover energy from valuable byproduct gases at several of our integrated facilities. Through the DOE’s Better Plants program, Cliffs aims to increase our resilience and reduce our carbon footprint through improvements in energy efficiency. We are also an ENERGY STAR® Industrial Partner.

On-Site Power Generation

It has been a longstanding practice and operational strategy to recover energy from byproduct gases from our Burns Harbor, Indiana Harbor and Cleveland Works plants. This helps us to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and the amount of electricity we purchase, as well as ozone-forming and GHG emissions associated with Scope 2.

In 2023, Indiana Harbor generated 100% of its power needs from re-use of valuable byproduct gases and added 33,000 MWh of energy to the grid. We also completed installation of the “G” generator at our Cleveland Works powerhouse. This new generator increases power-generating capacity, decreases the amount of purchased electricity and associated Scope 2 emissions, and helps reduce flaring of blast furnace gas.

Renewable Energy

Cleveland-Cliffs has a target to purchase 2 million MWh of renewable energy annually that is newly developed or additional to the grid. Throughout 2022 we have made progress on this effort. We recently executed a 15-year power purchase agreement with EDP Renewables SA for 180 MW of the 200-MW Headwaters III Wind Farm in Randolph County, Indiana. The wind farm is expected to be operational in 2025 and will annually power the equivalent of more than 54,000 homes. We’ve also committed to participate in three regulated utilities’ voluntary renewable energy programs near our Dearborn, Weirton, Indiana Harbor and Burns Harbor facilities. Our iron ore mining and pelletizing operations are served by Minnesota Power, whose overall renewables percentage for retail customers is near 50%.

Spotlight: Onsite Power Generation

Many of our steel and coke production plants send byproduct blast furnace and coke oven gases to onsite power plants to recover heat and energy. We’ve made significant investments at these plants over the last several years to increase generating capacity, gain efficiencies and reduce GHG emissions. Onsite power generation accounts for at least 75% of the plants’ energy needs, and more during peak times. To learn more about these capabilities please see our annual sustainability reports.