Aluminium plant

ABB has been awarded a $140m contract by Qatalum, a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Norway’s Hydro Aluminum.

The partners are constructing what will be the world’s largest aluminium plant.

For its part, ABB will supply a high-voltage power rectifier station consisting of ten high-current rectifiers rated at 1750V, ten regulating and rectifier transformers, System 800xA control and protection systems, two SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems, two direct-current measuring systems and various auxiliary systems.

ABB will also provide high-voltage cabling, engineering, training, installation and commissioning.

The greenfield Qatalum project will include an aluminium smelter with a capacity of 585,000 tons per year, and a dedicated 1350MW power plant station to ensure a stable supply of electricity.

The smelter will be located in the Mesaieed Industrial City, about 40km south of the Qatar’s capital, Doha, near a natural bay on the southern coast of the Qatar Eastern Peninsula.

Qatalum will be the largest primary aluminium plant ever built in one phase. It will be a fully-integrated primary aluminium plant consisting of a smelter, casthouse and carbon plant as well as a dedicated gas fired power plant with a capacity of approximately 1,250 MW. The power plant will be supplied with gas by Qatar Petroleum under a long-term gas contract