ABB awarded $15m FACTS contract

ABB has received six orders worth $15m to install flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS) in steel plants around the world.

Baoshan Iron & Steel Company, owners of the largest steel mill in China, ordered a static var compensator (SVC) rated at zero to 180 Megavolt ampere (Mvar) to mitigate electric disturbances emanating from the steel making process. Another contract in China was awarded through a major Japanese contractor.

A contract for an SVC from a steel mill in Oman is said to represent 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 collectively as FACTS, which are said to improve the security, capacity and flexibility of power transmission and distribution systems.

ABB has delivered more than 200 FACTS installations to steel makers worldwide, including an SVC in Turkey last year for one of the biggest electrical arc furnaces ever made.