Bulldozers, cranes and lorries create bustling activity on the building site for our new power station on the ArcelorMittal Ghent site in Sint-Kruis-Winkel. An enormous steel frame marks out the shape of the complex, which will be generating electricity in about eighteen months’ time. We interviewed the most important contributors to this project: Luc Vanhove (Energy Co-ordinator, ArcelorMittal Ghent), Reginald Deolet (Engineering & Investments Department, ArcelorMittal Ghent), Bob Van Schoor (Key Account Manager, Electrabel GDF SUEZ) and Peter Goorden (Project Manager, Electrabel GDF SUEZ).
“Electrabel GDF SUEZ and steel company ArcelorMittal Ghent, have been partners for a long time now,” begins Bob Van Schoor. “Our power station at Rodenhuize uses ArcelorMittal’s blast furnace gas to generate electricity that is then delivered back to them. However, this agreement ends in 2010, so ArcelorMittal was looking for a way to guarantee that its electricity supply would be secure in the future.”
Luc Vanhove adds: “Rodenhuize 2 and 3, two of the three groups currently using our blast furnace gas, are coming to the end of their lifetime and we realised that it would be very difficult for them to get permits after 2010. In addition, our electricity contract with Electrabel GDF SUEZ ends in late 2010. And, lastly, we were aware that our electricity needs would increase and that we would produce even more blast furnace gas. After careful consideration, we decided that it would be best to have a partnership with an electricity supplier. We issued a call for tenders throughout Europe. Various suppliers, including Electrabel GDF SUEZ, made bids, and they eventually won the contract.”
“The reliability of the power station is very important. Energy losses generated by flares represent a major cost for our company. Whenever the power station is not in operation, we are left with large amounts of gas that we cannot use to generate electricity. We are forced to flare the gas off, that is, to burn it, meaning it loses its value. We calculated how high this loss would be for each of the bids, and worked out that they were significantly lower with Electrabel GDF SUEZ. Cost was not the only factor influencing our choice – we have opted for reliable technology and Electrabel GDF SUEZ will make unit 4 of Rodenhuize power station available for use as a back-up. Furthermore, there will be a smooth transition from our current electricity contract to the new project.”
“The negotiations were difficult, complex and competitive,” comments Bob Van Schoor. “On the one hand, there were discussions between Electrabel GDF SUEZ and ArcelorMittal Ghent, while, on the other, there were discussions between Electrabel GDF SUEZ and all of the potential suppliers for the power station. We liked the idea of building a power station with a gas turbine, but, in the end, we decided on conventional combustion using a boiler.”
“This change is linked to our need for a reliable power station,” explains Peter Goorden. “After all, we are dealing with a power station for which the supply of fuel, blast furnace gas, cannot be cut off. If you shut down an ordinary gas or coal-fired power station, it stops using fuel. This isn’t the case here – the fuel just keeps on coming. If the power station stops functioning due to a fault or a failure, the fuel has to be diverted elsewhere. That’s why we chose reliable, top-of-the range equipment that builds on existing technology – it allows us to minimise the chances of the power station breaking down.”
Reginald Deolet was very impressed by the risk analysis: “Technical, safety and cost-related risks were all anticipated very early on and we are constantly working together to find win-win solutions for all parties involved. For example, an electrical device has been developed that minimises the impact of activating the power station’s main transformer on the internal grid at ArcelorMittal. Thanks to regular coordination meetings, we have built up mutual trust and all of the project managers understand one another.”
“The technical dimension was not the only tricky issue,” he continues. “There were a few others, such as transferring blast furnace gas between the old and new power stations and carrying out performance tests. It is important that we know how exactly we will test the power station later with a view to checking that it meets both parties’ requirements.”
“We had to figure out a few highly specific solutions for this project,” observes Peter Goorden, “and we did so in close cooperation with ArcelorMittal Ghent. Examples include the high-voltage connection and the cooling water which we will be getting from the Ghent-Terneuzen canal, two kilometres from the site, where we have had to build a pumping station.”
Our involvement in this project clearly shows that Electrabel GDF SUEZ can develop innovative, efficient solutions that are tailored to our customer’s particular needs.
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