2009-09-01 - ABB recently won a US $16 million order from Danieli, the Italian manufacturer of electric arc furnaces for steel manufacturing, to install flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS) for two steel plants in the Gulf. Find out more about these two plants, the challenge they both face and how ABB’s technology will help make them become more energy-efficient.
Meeting power quality requirements is a big challenge for steel manufacturing plants around the globe. This is mainly because the widely-used electrical arc furnace - commonly known as a steel-making furnace - is a heavy generator of flicker.
As a result, when steel makers increase the rating of the electrical arc furnace to boost production, they are often hampered by poor and insufficient power supply. The United Steel Industrial Company’s (UNISTEEL) plant in Kuwait and Emirates Steel Industries' (ESI) plant in the UAE plant are two facilities that know this problem first-hand.
With the help of ABB, both plants are looking to stabilize voltage and reduce distributing flicker to meet their power quality standards and increase their production capacity.
SVC Light to the rescue
UNISTEEL’s new reinforced bar facility - located in Shuaiba, Kuwait - produces approximately 1 million tons of steel per year, whilst ESI’s expansion plant project in Abu Dhabi will boost steel production significantly.
Both plants face the huge task of meeting the power quality requirements of their respective transmission companies, which are set to prevent grid disturbances. Installing conventional SVC (Static Var Compensation) systems won’t help the plants meet the standards, as the systems can only reduce flicker values with a factor of 2.0, however ABB's SVC Light System will.
ABB's SVC Light system falls under the umbrella of FACTS, which is an industry term to cover a number of technologies that enhance the security, capacity and flexibility of power transmission systems.
Once the SVC Light system in installed, both plants will be able to reach a reduce flicker by a factor of between 4.5 and 5.0, which in turn will increase the available furnace power.
“In addition to flicker reduction, the SVC Light system will act as an active filter to reduce harmonics,” said Christian Payerl, ABB project sales manager for industrial projects. “It will also provide the needed reactive power, which will result in a more stable voltage and shorter tap-to-tap times for both steel plants.”
Easy installation
The SVC Light system - essentially a Voltage Source Converter (VSC) based on IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistors) technology – will be connected directly to the 33kV furnace bus in each plant. Once this is done, the system will cover the reactive power need for the electrical arc furnaces, which means optimum performance for both plants.
ABB in Sweden will deliver the installation for UNISTEEL plant in November of this year, whilst installation for Emirates Steel Industries plant will be in February of 2010.
Transforming the industry
Although conventional SVC systems are still dominant in the steel industry, Payerl says ABB’s SVC Light technology has been winning a large market share in the Middle East region during the last few years.
“I believe the main reason for this increase is due to higher power quality requirements from local transmission companies in the region, which help support the needs of modern power grids and lead to an efficient production process for steel makers,” explained Payerl.
Payerl predicts that other key industries such as oil and gas, chemicals and electronics will soon implement SVC Light technology.
"In these industries, the aim is not only to limit disturbances transmitted to the power network, but also to protect the industry against poor power quality from the grid. Therefore, SVC Light technology together with the possibility of energy storage will generate a win-win situation for ABB and the Middle East's growing industrial sector," concluded Payerl.