VDE Guidance on “Grid Interference from Customer Installations with Electric Arc Furnaces” Meets the Needs of Electric Steel Mills
In November 2018, the VDE (Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies) issued new, binding grid connection rules for the high- and extra-high-voltage grid: VDE-AR-N 4120 and 4130. Initially, these new regulations went unnoticed by the electric steel community. With the new electric arc furnaces currently in the implementation phase, these regulations—which are highly restrictive from an industrial perspective—have quickly come into focus. The associated limit values—particularly for flicker, but also for harmonics—pose significant hurdles for the grid connection of new electric arc furnaces. Many of the existing furnaces will also struggle to comply with the limit values
At the initiative of the “VDEh Platform for the Transformation of the Steel Industry,” the VDEh Steel Institute wrote to the executive boards of the four transmission system operators just over a year ago, calling for significant improvements. These were promised in a joint response from the grid operators.
The VDE’s Forum for Grid Technology and Grid Operation (FNN) subsequently established the “Electric Arc Furnace” working group. Prof. Klaus Krüger participated in this working group as a guest representative of the VDEh.
The working group has now published an official guidance document outlining potential collaborative approaches for grid operators and steel mills to find practical solutions for both parties in cases where limit values are formally exceeded. This guidance document, titled “Grid Interactions from Customer Installations with Electric Arc Furnaces,” is now available on the VDE website. It is planned to promptly incorporate the solution approaches outlined there (Subsection 7.3) directly as an appendix to the grid connection rules.
The revision of the connection rules for high voltage has been underway for over a year; for extra-high voltage, the start of the revision is scheduled for the end of the year. Due to the large number of stakeholders, an extremely difficult and complex process is to be expected. This makes the guidance already published today all the more valuable.
