wiredInUSA December 2019

Caster upgrade

An HVDC first

SMS Concast has received an order from Global Steel Wire SA, located in Santander, Spain, for the upgrade of its continuous billet casting machine. Production at Global Steel Wire SA (GSW) focuses on wire rod in special steel grades for the automotive and special engineering industries. At present, the existing caster produces roughly 900,000 tons of steel per year in 180mm square sections. The aim of the modernization is to increase production flexibility by broadening the range of cast formats with the addition of 200mm to 240mm square sections, increasing casting speeds, and improving the productivity and quality of the cast products. The upgrade can be implemented with minimal interruption to production, with start-up of the upgraded machine scheduled for early 2021. The order includes the installation of Condrive mold oscillation drive systems on all strands, following its successful running on one strand at GSW since October 2018. Constir-MEMS, powerful electromagnetic mold stirrers, are also part of the contract to achieve the required quality standards. An additional feature of the stirring system, Constir-MWS (modulated wave stirring) will allow the energy consumption of the stirrers to be reduced by up to 30 percent. The modernization will increase cast speeds and improve productivity

Image: SSE

ABB has been selected by the UK’s SSE Renewables, and Equinor of Norway, to supply high voltage direct current (HVDC) Light converter systems to the world’s largest offshore wind farms in the Dogger Bank area of the North Sea. The project will increase current wind offshore capacity by 3.6GW. In the first use of HVDC technology in the UK’s offshore wind market, ABB will supply technology with one of the smallest environmental footprints. ABB will supply the HVDC Light converter systems, while Aibel will deliver two HVDC offshore converter platforms. In 2016, ABB and Aibel announced their partnership on the design, engineering and optimization of offshore wind connections. Paul Cooley, director of Capital Projects at SSE Renewables, commented: “Dogger Bank is, truly, a world-leading project, pushing new boundaries in the provision of ground-breaking technology to deliver low-carbon energy generation.” The Dogger Bank development consists of three wind farm projects – Creyke Beck A and B, and Teesside A. It will be a significant contribution towards the UK government’s goals of sourcing up to a third of its electricity from offshore wind by 2030. ABB also has contracts for Creyke Beck A and Creyke Beck B.

wiredInUSA December 2019

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