Electrical Power Quality and Utilisation, Magazine Vol. II, No.

1, 2006

Harmonic Analyses and Mitigation in Large

Industrial Steel Plants
A Case Study
Walter T.J. HULSHORST1), At L. KEET2), Johan H.R. ENSLIN1)
1)
KEMA, 2) CORUS

Summary: At its plant in the Dutch town of IJmuiden, steel-producer Corus has its own electri- Key words:
city network. For steel making electrical energy is needed, specially for the mill section, due to power quality,
older techniques these installations produces more voltage distortion on the Corus network. harmonics,
This can cause equipment outages, and thus halt production. This paper presents an innovative resonance,
solution to these problems, thereby limiting production losses and system mal operation and non linear loads,
without exceeding of harmonic limits at the connection to the grid- operators network. filter,
power electronics

1. INTRODUCTION This case study is performed at the Corus Strip

Several years ago, Corus began to experience Products plant at IJmuiden, The Netherlands.
increasing problems with its power supply This plant manufactures hot rolled, cold rolled
quality. Electrical drives were tripping, clocks and metallic-coated steels for many industries
were running fast, PC supplies were burning in a wide specification to European or other
out, lighting systems were malfunctioning and (inter)national standards. They include the
harmonic filters failed. On top of the damage to automotive and transport industries, building
the equipment affected, these problems were and construction, consumer appliances and
accelerating the ageing of other components electronics, and general engineering.
and in extreme cases interrupted steel For the process of manufacturing steel strips,
production at a high cost. For a company whose iron ore, sinter, coke and limestone are combined
production processes are normally continuous, into a blast furnace to make molten iron, which
unscheduled stoppages add high operational is refined into liquid steel by reducing its carbon
and production costs and are not accepted. content. Secondary steel making gives the steel
To understand these problems and provide exact physical properties by regulating its
mitigating solutions for these problems and how physical structure, temperature and
to prevent future problems associated with power compounds. The liquid steel is then casted
quality, KEMA consultants and Corus engineers continuously into slabs. Hot steel rolling
conducted a survey at the Corus electrical (Figure 1) reduces the thickness of the strip
network. The developed approaches and analysis and controls its finishing temperature, cooling
steps taken in this project can also be used as a rate, and coiling temperature, which, together
general description to prevent problems with with its physical properties, defines its
harmonics in other industrial grids. mechanical properties.
Cold steel milling enhances the surface finish,
shape and forming characteristics of the steel
2. GENERAL DESCRIPTION strip and reduces its thickness. The ductility
Corus is an international steel manufacturing lost in cold rolling is recovered by annealing,
company, providing steel and aluminum which also develops the mechanical properties.
products and services to customers worldwide. Temper rolling refines the shape, surface finish,
Corus has manufacturing operations in many and mechanical properties still further. Cold-
countries with major plants located in the UK, rolled strip steel may then be coated with metallic
The Netherlands, Germany, France, Norway elements, or alloys to protect it from corrosion.
and Belgium. From October 2003 Corus has These elements include zinc, tin and aluminum.
been structured into four main divisions: With an area of more than 750 hectares, Corus
Strip Products, Long Products, Aluminum IJmuiden is the largest unified industrial
and Distribution and Building Systems. complex in the Netherlands. On this site, the
Each of these has a number of business units company has no less then 350 MW of electrical
within.

W.T.J. Hulshorst et al.: Harmonic Analyses and Mitigation in Large Industrial Steel Plants #%
 problems have occurred at substation H and P.
To analyze the power quality problems and
propose mitigation options a number of
consequent steps were taken. These general
numbers of steps can be used for other problem
related to similar problems.

3.1. Problem analyses

Within Corus's the grid and also at substations
H and P, serious power quality problems were
experienced under certain network
configurations. Electrical drives were tripping,
clocks were running faster, PC supplies were
burning out, lighting systems were
malfunctioning and harmonic filters failed.
Furthermore accelerated ageing of other
components, and in extreme cases interruption
of the production, was experienced. For a
company whose production processes are
normally continuous, unscheduled stoppages
adds enormously to costs and is not acceptable.
During normal network configuration, as shown
in the one-line diagram, of Figure 2,
no problems occured at substations H and P.
Here substations H and P are connected to the
150 kV network through transformers T322 and
Fig. 1. Corus hot steel power consumption. Corus is also connected T104. The discussed power quality problems
rolling process to the 150 kV grid operated by Continuon. occurred during the maintenance configuration.
Within the Corus network, the voltage is Normally for reliability requirements, transformer
reduced from 150 kV to 50 kV, then to 10 kV, and T322 is connected to the black 50 kV bus bar at
ultimately to 3 kV inside the manufacturing HVS 12, with a redundancy of two transformers
units. Transformers ensure that the voltage (T102 and T103). The described power quality
always remains at the appropriate level. problems did occur when T322 was connected
However, to protect Corus's sensitive to the black bus bar, if T322 was connected to
equipment, it is also important to ensure that the grey bus bar, no problems happened.
power supplies within the plant are of the
appropriate quality. 3.2. Harmonic measurements (U/I)
Since the problems occur when T322 was
connected to the black 50 kV bus bar of HVS
3. HARMONIC ANALYSES
12, a measurement program was set up to
The described power quality problems have
establish the voltage wave shape, harmonic
occurred within the Northern part of the
contents and harmonic levels at the low voltage
Fig. 2. Northern part electrical installation of Corus. An overview of
side of transformer T322. For both situations
of the Corus grid this grid is provided in Figure 2. Most of the
(T322 connected to the black bus bar and
connected to the grey bus bar) the voltage at
HVS14 was measured and the current through
transformer T322 (see Figure 3 and 4).
As can be seen from these figures, the voltage
harmonics on the black bus bar have much
higher values then the voltage harmonics on
the grey bus bar for almost every harmonic
order. Especially the 23rd and 25th harmonic
numbers have very high values. This could
indicate a parallel resonance scenario. The
current through the transformer T322 has higher
values for every harmonic order when
connected to the grey bus bar. For both
situations there are relative high harmonic
values around the 23rd and 25th harmonic order.

#& Electric Power Quality and Utilization, Magazine • Vol. II, No 1, 2006
This could indicate a series resonance scenario.
Since the levels were so high, a voltage wave
shape has been measured at an electrical wall
outlet socket for conformation purposes. The
wave shape is shown at Figure 5.
As can be seen in Figure 5, there are multiple
zero crossings. Some equipment will switch off
when such a voltage is applied. Next to the
multiple zero crossings, it can also been seen
that there is a classic resonance at the 23rd
harmonic.

3.3. EN 50160 Requirements

To establish the maximum level of the distortion,
Corus uses the limits provided in the EN50160.
The voltage harmonics when transformer T322 Fig. 3. Voltage harmonic spectrum
was connected to the grey rail are within the
limits of the EN50160. Contrary when
transformer T322 was connected to the black
bus bar, the voltage harmonic limits were
exceeded from the 21st up to the 31st harmonic
order and the 35th and 37th harmonic order. The
THD level at the black bus was 13,3%, far above
the limit of 8%, while the THD at the grey bus
bar was only 3,7%.

3.4. Identify harmonic current sources

Within the Corus plant there are a number of
electrical drives that produce harmonic current.
About 70 to 90 MVA from the 140 MVA total
connect power in the Northern grid of Corus
are non-linear loads (about 60%). About 50
MVA is directly connected to the 50 kV bus bar Fig. 4. Current harmonic spectrum
and about 30 MVA at lower voltage levels (10
or 3 kV). Most of the drives have a 6 or 12 pulse
characteristic design.

3.5. Mechanisms of series and parallel

resonance
To describe the principle of resonance inside
the Corus plant the equivalent network
reactance at harmonic frequencies is used.
The principles are described here in terms of
the Corus grid shunt capacitor and cable
capacitances, and equivalent source and
transformer impedances. Shunt capacitors and
cable charging capacitances affect the system
resonance dramatically. The charging
resonance phenomenon in this network, Fig. 5. Wave shape
capacitance associated with the HV cables and
characteristic harmonic currents generated from voltage
shunt capacitors are normally seen as an
the drives and converters are considered.
equivalent capacitance C in parallel with the
Resonance phenomena are shown in Figure 6,
system, while the network series impedance and
and can be divided into the following:
transformer impedances, normally inductive,
— Parallel Resonance (Figure 6 (a)) of the
and are seen as an equivalent series reactance
parallel network capacitance Cp (cable
L. The load and resistance of the transformers
charging capacitance and capacitor banks)
and cables are seen as the equivalent R or
and the supply inductance Lp (transformer
damping in the system. When analyzing the
leakage, generators, lines and cable).
A parallel resonance is characterized as a

W.T.J. Hulshorst et al.: Harmonic Analyses and Mitigation in Large Industrial Steel Plants #'
 technical lifetime of these drives has not been
reached yet.
In evaluating solutions to the resonance
problems several mitigation options were
considered. These were:
1. Detuning of the harmonic resonance
frequency with passive components (C & L)
2. SVC (TCR and C) and STATCOM solutions
3. Splitting network into a high and low THD
level grids
A summary of the first two options are provided
in the Table 1.
Although the solutions described above will
Fig. 6. Mechanisms
high impedance to the flow of harmonic reduce the problem regarding the harmonics,
of parallel (a) and
series (b) resonance currents at the resonance frequency. This the costs to invest were still too high. Therefore
parallel resonance is initiated by distortion a remarkable solution has been found sufficient
generated internally, i.e. within the load for the Corus production process by
connection point. In this case a inrush current subdividing the grid into two separated grids
associated with the switching transformer with a high THD level and a low THD level grid.
or distorting converter load can be assumed At the grid with low THD level all sensitive
to be the generating source current Ih. In equipment for harmonics were connected. At
this case the impedance at the resonance is the high THD level, all large harmonic sources
high, resulting in higher voltage distortion and equipment that could handle these high THD
at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC), or levels were connected. Although the harmonic
where the equipment and load is connected. problems still exist, the process could still fulfill
— Series Resonance (Figure 6 (b)) of the without losing production due to the resonance
equivalent network capacitance Cs, and the or harmonic problems. To subdivide the grid
supply reactance Ls, is resulting from Corus only had to invest in a 10 kV cable, which
externally generated or injected distortion was less then half of the cost for the other given
from other parts of the system. A series solutions. The harmonic distortion at the PCC
resonance is characterized as low impedance with the gridowner (150 kV) remains the same
for harmonic currents at the resonance level as before the studies.
frequency. In this case the background
supply voltage distortion is the mechanism.
In this case the impedance at the resonance 4. Plant and grid expansion
is low, resulting in higher current distortion For a couple of years the split-network solution,
through the load, cable capacitance or where the grid is separated into high- and low
capacitor bank installations. THD level grids, has operating successfully.
In practice these two phenomenon are linked in The steel production process has not been
one circuit and both increased levels in the stopped due to harmonic or resonance
voltage and current distortions are practically problems. Equipment did fulfill the expectations
measured as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4 and did not fail and the financial damages due
to lack of power quality at the several locations
3.6. Harmonic mitigation options in the plant were minimized.
Reduction of the harmonics at the sources is Corus recently decided to add a Near Infra Red
also a possibility, however this would mean that (NIR) installation to its facilities. This special
most of the drives used have to be changed steel coating installation is made of
which is not an economical solution since the 12 different units (10 units having a rating of

Table 1. Summary of solutions to the resonance problems

SVC
Option C bank + filter STATCOM STATCOM + C
(TCR + C)
Rating (MVAr) 30 – 50 35 – 60 5 – 10 55 – 60
Filtering +/- +/- + ++
Detuning +/- + + ++
Effectivity Limited Sufficient Good Excellent
Flexibility -- +/- ++ ++

$ Electric Power Quality and Utilization, Magazine • Vol. II, No 1, 2006

800 kVA and 2 units of 400 kVA) and can be Table 2. Sections NIR Installation
seen as a large infrared lighting equipment witch
Section A B C D
can be dimmed. To control the NIR dimmers are
used to control the voltage. Sadly the dimmers Number of units 3 3 4 2
produce a large amount of harmonic currents. Rating 2400 kVA 2400 kVA 3200 kVA 800 kVA
The NIR installation produces a maximum THD(I)
level of 30% at a total rating of almost 9 MVA.
The NIR installation is subdivided into 4
sections and the voltage supply will be at the
Low voltage level of 400 V (Table 2).
Normally the NIR installation would be
connected by transformers into the high THD
level grid, however since the geographical Fig. 7. Connection of
location of the NIR installation is not in the the NIR installation
neighborhood of a connection point to the into the 10 kV network
High THD level grid, it had to be connected to
the low THD level grid. The NIR installation
had to be connected to the grid with low THD
level.
With a THD(I) level of 30%, the NIR installation
was expected to cause considerable harmonic
distortion in the 10 kV grid. Without
countermeasures, the power supply to the rest
of the complex would be vulnerable. The goal to
connect this installation into the low THD level
grid was to connect it without exceeding the limits
as provided in the Dutch Grid code [2] (based on
the EN50160 [1] standard). Furthermore
provision for future upgrades and installation of
equipment can also produce some harmonics on
the grid. To prevent potential resonance on the onto the 10 kV grid. Since most of the other Fig. 8. Measurement
harmonic order on
23rd harmonic, it was tried to reduce the 23rd sensitive equipment is placed at the 10 kV bus 10 kV bus bar HVS 14
harmonic as far as possible. bar of HVS 14 the THD level and all harmonic
Next to the technical issues, the solution should levels were measurement at this bus bar.
be as cheap as possible. Since the NIR During a few hours with continuous process
installation had to be connected from 400 V grid each 3 seconds a measurement was recorded
to the 10 kV grid, the cheapest way to fulfill the (peak value). These values are shown in Figure
requirement was by the choice of the type of 8 (including a 10 minutes average value).
transformer configurations. In this case the
following steps were identified: 4.2. Development of harmonic models
1. Voltage background measurement in the Next step in this methodology is to set up
current situation without NIR and models and to perform simulations to establish
comparison with the standards. what the influence of the connection of the NIR
2. Develop equivalent circuit within Matlab/ installation would have on the harmonic
Simulink (including verification). contents on the point of common coupling at
3. Simulation of different transformers 10 kV. We have set up three models into Matlab/
configurations to connect the NIR. Simulink:
4. Select most cost-effective transformer —A model of the existing 10 kV grid (including
configuration. harmonics).
5. Develop an acceptable specification for the — A model of the NIR installation (including
transformer. harmonics at 0,4 kV).
6. Develop guidelines for further installation — Models of the transformers needed to
connected to the network. connect the NIR installation (0,4 kV) to the
10 kV grids.
4.1. Measurement of the background To model the existing 10 kV grid the harmonic
harmonic level sources as provided in the section about
To establish the influence of the NIR installation harmonic analyses mitigation were used. This
on the 10 kV network of Corus, Figure 7 shows model was taken as crucial and adjusted until it
were the NIR installation had to be connected fitted according the measuring results.

W.T.J. Hulshorst et al.: Harmonic Analyses and Mitigation in Large Industrial Steel Plants $
 To model the NIR installation information, the Still the solution with two-phase shifting
NIR model was created with manufacturer input transformer was not adequate. The level of the
data. Since the information provided by the NIR 23rd harmonic was still not acceptable.
manufacturer was very limited, a worst-case To reduce the 23rd harmonic the NIR installation
model, meaning the harmonic sources contain was connected to the 10 kV grid with 3
harmonics according the theory of a 6-pulse transformers. 2 transformers were having a
converter was used. phase shift of plus or minus 7,5 degree, while
The dry type transformers to connect the NIR the third transformer was an Yyd transformer.
to the 10 kV network, were modeled according As can seen from figure 10, this resulted in a
to reference 3 including the frequency reduced 23rd harmonic.
dependency of the resistance in the transformer. Although the 47th and 49th harmonics are still
high, it is expected that these high values will be
4.3. Different transformer configurations much lower in reality, since the resistance in the
To reduce the harmonic contents caused by network will damp them. All simulations were
the NIR installation, at the 10 kV bus bar HVS14, performed with the NIR at full load and at a loading
several transformer configurations were were some units were switched off. For the case
considered. Figure 9 shows the results of an with 3 transformers, the highest values were
simulation were the NIR installation is achieved when the NIR installation is at full load.
connected with two Yyd transformers compared
with a solution were a phase shift is made within 4.4. Select transformer configuration
the transformer, one with +7,5 degree and one Based on the results it was decided to use 3
transformer with –7,5 degree. As can seen the transformers were two will have a phase shift.
transformer with the phase shifting will result Although these two transformers are about 10-
in a lower THD level, since the 11th, 13th, 35th 15% more expensive compared with a transformer
Fig. 9. Results simula-
tion Yyd versus Zyd
and 37th harmonics are much lower compared without phase shifting, this solution was still
(phase shift) configura- with the transformer without phase shifting. the most acceptable solution to Corus.
tion
4.5. Specification of the transformer
To make sure the transformers fulfill the
requirements of harmonic loading, the harmonic
loading for each transformer was calculated. This
harmonic content was provided within
the specification of the transformer to the
manufacturer [3]. The manufacturer was asked
to establish the influence of the harmonics on
the losses, cooling and life expectation of the
transformer.

4.6. Guidelines for further installations

Growth of the Corus production plant can be
expected in the future. It is almost sure that
future equipment will produce more harmonics.
To make sure the installation in the future can
Fig. 10. Results simulation one Yyd and two Zyd handle these harmonics, Corus has set up
(phase shift) configuration
guidelines for manufacturers what the maximum
amount of harmonic produced by equipment
might be. In case the equipment produces
higher harmonic content than the limits given
in the guidelines, the manufacturer is asked to
reduce the harmonics. This way Corus makes
sure that harmonic sources have to reduce their
own harmonic pollution.

5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Loss of production at the Corus steelplant due
to harmonic and resonance problems in the
electrical grids has occurred. Within this paper
a general approach has been provided how the

$ Electric Power Quality and Utilization, Magazine • Vol. II, No 1, 2006

problems can be solved by technical solutions. Walter T.J. Hulshorst
Ing. Walter Hulshorst graduated in 1989
However since the costs to reduce the problems with a Bachelors degree in electrical
were high for a production plant were the core engineering from the Arnhem Technical
University (The Netherlands). From 1990
business is not electricity, a cost-effective to 1996 he was design engineer for power
solution was described to split the network into transformers at Smit Transformers in the
a high THD level grid and a low THD level grid. Netherlands. Through 1996 to 1998 he
joined Parenco (papermill) in the
The costs were less then half compared to the Netherlands and served as head of the
costs necessary to reduce all harmonics or electrical maintenance department. Since 1998 he holds a
consultant position with KEMA in Arnhem; since 2005 mixed
resonance. with a position as account manager industries. He is involved
For several years this solution was adequate, as project manager in several consulting and research projects
in the area of reliability, risk analysis, power quality, grid
however when an upgrading of the production connections and transformers. Mr. Hulshorst is vice chairman
plant was necessary harmonic sources had to of the Dutch availability and reliability group of electrical
be connected with the low THD level grid. grids (Nestor), member of the Dutch association for risk
analyses and operational safety (NVRB) and member of the
Based on simulations it was shown that if no Royal Institution of Engineers in the Netherlands (KIVI NIRIA).
action was taken to reduce the harmonic Address:
KEMA Consultancy
distortion, the THD level of the LV grid would The Netherlands
be to high, causing again problems (outages) Tel. +31 26 - 356 6380
E-Mail walter.hulshorst@kema.com
for the production plant. Due to modeling and
simulation it was found that the THD level can Aart L. Keet
be reduced by using a phase shifting Dr. Ir. Aart Louis Keet (1957) received his
transformer. Although the transformer are about degree of Electrical engineer at the Delft
University / The Netherlands and his Ph.D
10-15% higher in costs then regular transformer, at Eindhoven University / The
they make sure that the THD level and Netherlands. After working at the
Electronics department of HOLEC he
resonance frequency are within the limits as presently working as project leader at the
given in the EN 50160. Projects & Technical Consultancy at Corus
Strip
Address:
Corus products IJmuiden
REFERENCES The Netherlands
Tel. + 31 251 - 498970
1. EN 50160 1999 voltage characteristics of electricity E-mail At.keet@corusgroup.com
supplied in public distribution systems
2. Harmonics passive filters, Power quality application
guide 3.3.1.; DKI; Stefan Fassbinder Johan HR. Enslin
3. Energy saving in industrial distribution Dr. Ir Johan HR Enslin has combined a 25
transformers; KEMA; W.T.J. Hulshorst and J.F.G. year career with activity in industry and
Groeman, 2002. university, as an executive and principal
4. www.corus.com consultant for private business operations
and serving as a full-professor in electrical
and electronic engineering. He worked
for 4 years as a Director of System Studies
at ESKOM, a large international utility,
and the last 5 years for KEMA, an
international consulting company. He is a seasoned
consultant, manager, lecturer and R&D principal in T&D
network planning, power electronics, power quality analysis
and mitigation, as well as interconnection of renewable
energy systems. He has authored and co-authored more than
200 technical papers in the IEEE and other organizations
and holds 13 international patents. He is a Registered
Professional Engineer and holds the grade of Senior Member
at the IEEE and SAIEE
Address:
KEMA Consultancy
USA
E-mail: johan.Enslin@kema.com

W.T.J. Hulshorst et al.: Harmonic Analyses and Mitigation in Large Industrial Steel Plants $!