Gupta company tests scrap steel for Australian wind towers to cut emissions and materials

A Sydney based steel company is testing a “sustainable” steel product made from 100 per cent scrap that it hopes can deliver major savings in materials and embodied emissions for wind turbines installed in Australia.

The testing is being conducted by InfraBuild, which has its origins from the start of the Newcastle steelworks in 1915 and which was bought in 2017 by Sanjiv Gupta’s GFG Alliance, the former owner of the Whyalla Steelworks.

Infrabuild says the new product, known as Sense 600, is made in the company’s Electric Arc Furnaces, which boast lower emissions compared to the conventional Blast Furnace/Basic Oxygen Furnace (BF-BOF) method.

The product is also able to deliver the equivalent load capacity while using up to 16.7 per cent less raw materials, and 39 per cent less embodied carbon when compared to the company’s own standard Grade 500N reinforcing bar.

Australia is estimated to need around 25,000 new wind towers to meet its 2030 target of 82 per cent renewables.

The new testing of Sense 600 is designed to assess its suitability for use in wind turbine tower bases, and it is also looking at opportunities in the recycling of old wind farms.

Amir Hassanieh, InfraBuild’s technical engineering manager for innovation, is leading the new research and says that his team has spent the last 18 months working with Monash University to explore the fatigue performance of the Sense 600 range.

“The findings so far support the use of Sense 600 in wind farm applications where reinforcing steel is subject to frequent stress cycles far in excess of those in typical construction projects,” Amir said.

“Using our more sustainable steel products in renewable projects is a natural next step for a company which is focused on value adding to its steel products and its decarbonisation efforts.”

The first phase of this new testing is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026.