Tata Steel has reached a deal with the UK’s electricity grid to start supplying the energy for new furnaces in south Wales from 2027, as the company moves ahead with its plan despite union opposition. The agreement with the National Grid’s electricity supply operator (ESO), the company which controls how energy is moved around Great Britain, will provide hundreds of millions of megawatts of power to a new electric arc furnace at the steelworks in Port Talbot. Tata Steel is planning to shift rapidly from two polluting blast furnaces – which can produce 5m tonnes of steel, but also nearly 2% of UK carbon emissions – to electric technology that can produce up to 3.2m tonnes of recycled steel a year. Related: Unions condemn Tata Steel decision to shut Port Talbot coke ovens early The plan will cut emissions dramatically, but it will also mean as many as 2,800 steelworkers will lose their jobs, in a devastating blow to a community built around the works. The first blast furnace is due to close at the end of June, followed by the second blast furnace and the “heavy end”, which makes steel from iron, in September. Tata Steel is expected to...