Flexible AC systems to raise power quality and productivity at steelmakers
Zurich, Switzerland, October 11, 2006 – ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, said today it has received six orders totalling $15 million to install flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS) at steel plants in China, Oman, Spain, and Turkey.
“ABB’s technology is in demand by steelmakers to help them improve productivity and meet a soaring worldwide appetite for steel,” says Per Haugland, head of ABB’s Power Technology Grid Systems business area.
Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. Ltd., the largest steel mill in China and No. 6 in the world, ordered a static var compensator (SVC) rated at zero to 180 Megavolt ampere (Mvar) to mitigate electric disturbances emanating from the steel making process that are harmful to power quality. Another contract in China was awarded through a major Japanese contractor.
A contract for an SVC from a steel mill in Oman represents a breakthrough for ABB in this business in the Middle East. The remaining three orders were from Spain and Turkey.
All contracts are based on ABB’s SVC technology, one of a number of technologies known under the power industry term FACTS that improve the security, capacity and flexibility of power transmission and distribution systems, as well as productivity and power quality in industry.
ABB is a worldwide leader in the growing field of FACTS, with more than 500 installations in operation or under construction. ABB is also the number one supplier of SVC technology worldwide, and since the early 1970s has delivered more than 200 such installations to steel makers worldwide, including an SVC in Turkey last year for one of the biggest electrical arc furnaces ever made.
ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 107,000 people.