Merus Power provides a compensator to Saudi Arabia
Merus Power will supply a Static Synchronous Compensator to support the operation of an electric arc furnace at an ilmenite smelter located in Saudi Arabia. The ilmenite smelter project was originally delivered by Outotec, which merged with Metso in 2020. Metso and ASIC have agreed on the refurbishment and modernization of the plant’s second furnace, which is expected to be operational by 2025. The delivery of Merus Power’s compensator is estimated to take place in the summer 2025. The contract between Merus Power and Metso is worth nearly 4 million euros.
The electric arc furnace requires a lot of energy to melt metal and causes uneven loading on the power grid during different stages of the smelting process. This cyclic load can cause disturbances in the entire plant’s medium voltage network and reflect on other equipment as well as the surrounding network. Merus® STATCOM balances the load of the medium-voltage network and eliminates disturbances. The compensator improves the energy efficiency of production and reduces relative CO2 emissions by compensating for disturbances in the power grid. With its help, power grid quality requirements can be met and maintained more easily.
“We are pleased to collaborate with Merus Power in designing this solution. Merus Power is an expert in power quality for the metal industry, deeply understanding the specific requirements of the field, and the cooperation has gone well.” – Reima Eskelinen, Project Manager, Metso
“Merus Power’s experience and solid expertise in power quality compensation for the metal industry have been acquired over several years. The customer receives the entire team’s expertise for the development and implementation of the project, as well as highly developed and reliable compensator technology. With our expertise, we aim to ease our customers’ work while improving the energy efficiency of the metal industry. For years, we have been developing our skills and products to meet the challenges of today.” – Kari Tuomala, CEO, Merus Power
