Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works
Large load · 1801 CRAWFORD ST, Middletown, OH
Middletown Works in Middletown, Ohio, is Cleveland-Cliffs' flagship integrated steel plant for automotive exposed-grade sheet, making iron in a blast furnace rather than melting scrap. In 2010, under AK Steel, a DOE environmental assessment reported that the plant bought all of its electricity, about 200 MW, from Duke Energy. A $1 billion investment announced in August 2026, half funded by a rescoped $500 million DOE award, rebuilds the blast furnace and adds a cogeneration plant burning blast furnace gas to cut the site's reliance on purchased power.
Overview
- Average demand
- 200 MW
- operating
DOE's 2010 environmental assessment for a proposed Air Products waste-gas power plant at the site reported that Middletown Works bought all of its electricity, about 200 MW, from the local supplier Duke Energy, while raising its steam internally from byproduct and blast furnace gases. At the time, about half of the blast furnace gas was flared. Air Products proposed capturing 75 percent of it to generate an average of 105 MW plus process steam. The 200 MW figure is the 2010 purchase level, not a contracted or current metered demand.
Profile
- From electric melting furnaces to a blast furnace rebuild
- In March 2024 Cleveland-Cliffs planned to replace the blast furnace with a hydrogen-ready direct reduced iron plant and two electric melting furnaces, backed by up to $500 million from DOE's Industrial Demonstrations Program. Regional coverage flagged that switch as a new source of Ohio electricity demand. In August 2026 DOE said the original scope no longer made business sense because customers were unwilling to pay a green premium, and the grant was rescoped to a blast furnace upgrade.
- Cogeneration to cut purchased power
- The rescoped $1 billion project, funded equally by Cleveland-Cliffs and DOE, upgrades the blast furnace, materials handling and process controls, and builds an advanced cogeneration facility that captures blast furnace gas to generate electricity and steam for on-site use. Cliffs says this will reduce reliance on externally supplied electricity. Work was to begin within weeks of the announcement, with the blast furnace rebuild due to finish in the first quarter of 2030 while steel production continues.
Facility
- Activity
- Automotive-grade steels
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Site type
- Facility
- Operating status
- Operating
Related records
Timeline
- Jul 1, 2010
- DOE environmental assessment reports the plant buys about 200 MW from Duke Energy.
netl.doe.gov
- Mar 25, 2024
- Cleveland-Cliffs plans a DRI plant and two electric melting furnaces with DOE support.
Cliffs to use DOE grant to replace Middletown BF with DRI, EMF plant - Steel Market Update
- Aug 21, 2026
- Cliffs and DOE rescope the award into a $1 billion blast furnace rebuild with blast-furnace-gas cogeneration.
www.clevelandcliffs.com