Industry, as well as commercial and domestic groups of users, demands power quality. Flickering lamps are no longer accepted, nor are deratings or interruptions of industrial processes due to insufficient power quality.
Demands for increased steel production and rules for network disturbances have, together with increasing cost of energy, made reactive power compensation a profitable solution in the steel industry. A modern and cost efficient steel melting process demands a stable and steady voltage support for the Electric Arc Furnace. With dynamic reactive power compensation, the random voltage variations characterized by an arc furnace are minimized. The minimized voltage variations are achieved by continuously compensating the reactive power consumption from the arc furnace. The result is an overall improvement of the furnace operation, which leads to better process and production economy. ABB experience with Static Var Compensation f
or the steel industry dates back to the early seventies.