Paper Code: 01C7
Applying FACTS to Mitigate Power Quality
Problems in Steel Making Industry_ A Techno-
Economic Study
Ahmed M. Hassan
Al-Ezz Dekheila Steel
Co.(EZDK)
Alexandria 21537Egypt
ahmedh@ezzsteel.com.eg
Abstract— Electric Arc furnace (EAF) represents one of the most
intensive and disturbing loads in the electric power systems.
Utilities are concerned about the power quality issues such load can
cause and try to take precautions to minimize their effects on power
network at Point of Common Coupling (PCC). In this paper,
mitigation of these resulting power quality issues can be shown to
be also beneficial to industrial plant from a techno-economic point
of view. One of the most important FACTS solutions for mitigation
is the Static Var Compensator (SVC). This study presents the
results of applying this solution in Main Receiving Substation
(MRSS) of EZDK and the techno-economic benefits from such
application reference to international standard performance figure.
Keywords-component— Electric Arc Furnace, Static Var
Compensator, Harmonic Analysis, Power Quality, Flicker
Mitigation, Techno-economic analysis
I. INTRODUCTION
Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) is a widely used device in
metallurgical and processing industries. It is a nonlinear time
varying load, which can cause many problems to the power
system quality such as unbalance, harmonic inter harmonic and
voltage flicker [1]. Thus study of electric arc furnaces has
potential benefits for both customers and utilities. An accurate
modeling of an EAF will help in dealing with the problems
caused by its operation. Minimization of the undesirable impact
of EAFs can improve electric efficiency and reduce power
fluctuations in the system.
The description of an arc furnace load depends on the
following parameters: arc voltage, arc current and arc length
(which is determined by the position of the electrodes). Based on
the study of above essential parameters, many models are set up
for the purpose of harmonic and flicker analysis [2]. In general,
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they may be classified as follows, a) Time domain analysis
method (Characteristic Method, Time Domain Equivalent
Nonlinear Circuit Method), and b) Frequency Domain analysis
method (Harmonic Voltage Source Model, Harmonic domain
Solution of nonlinear differential equation). Each method has its
own advantages and disadvantages. Comparison and
commendation of different arc furnace models were presented in
[3]. Most of the existing models make some kinds of
approximation on the characteristic of arc. There have been two
general approaches to the problem of arc furnace modeling:
stochastic and chaotic. In most of the previous studies, stochastic
ideas are used to capture the periodic, nonlinear, and time-
varying behavior of arc furnaces [4-6]. In [4], the arc furnace
load is modeled as a voltage source. The model is based on
representation of the V-I characteristics using sinusoidal
variations of arc resistance and band limited white noise.
Research study shows that, the electrical fluctuations in the
arc furnace voltage have proven to be chaotic in nature. Some
chaos-based models reported in specialized literature [7-8] have
been applied to simulate ac [9-10] and dc arc furnaces [11].
This paper intends to present an integrated simulation
modeling of EAF and SVC networks instead of using single
valued piece-wise linear V-I characteristics of the arc furnace
load, a dynamic and multi-valued V-I characteristics are obtained
by using corresponding differential equations [10]. The output of
dynamic model developed is modulated with low frequency
chaos signal to produce the arc furnace model. The model
developed is connected to actual power system model to study
the voltage fluctuation.
The paper is organized as follows; Section II introduces the
modeling of EAF. Section III discusses the SVC theory of
operation and background history. Section IV describes the Case
 Ahmed M. Hassan et. Al. – International Conference on New Trends for Sustainable Energy 2016 [ICNTSE]
Study for Integrated Model of EAF and SVC. Finally, the
conclusion is presented in section V.
II. MODELING OF EAF
A. Arc Furnace Operation
Electric arc furnaces are available in both alternating current
(AC) and Direct current (DC) models. A transformer directly
energizes furnace electrodes in a high current circuit in arc
furnaces, whereas dc furnaces employ a controlled rectifier to
supply dc to the furnace electrodes. Arc furnace operation may be
classified into stages, depending on the status of the melt and the
time lapse from the initial energization of the unit.
Consider the case of the processing of scrap steel in an ac
EAF. During the melting period, pieces of steel create
momentary short circuits on the secondary side of the furnace
transformer. These load changes affect the arc characteristics,
causing fluctuations of current. The current fluctuations cause
variations in reactive power, which cause a momentary voltage
drop or flicker, both at the supply bus and at nearby buses in the
interconnected system. The arc currents are more uniform during
the refining period and result in less impact on the power quality
of the system. Arc furnaces also create harmonic load currents
and asynchronous spectral components. Harmonics represent an
important power quality issue, because they may cause
undesirable operating conditions such as excess losses in
transformers, mal-operation of drive controllers etc. [1]. Fig.1
shows typical installation of EAF.
Fig. 1. Typical installation of EAF
Fig.2 shows actual and piece-wise linear approximation of V-
I characteristic of an Arc Furnace Load where Vig is the ignition
voltage and Vex is the extinguish voltage.
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Fig. 2. Actual and piece-wise linear approximation of V-I characteristic of an
Arc Furnace Load
B. Chaotic Dynamics In Electric Arc Furnaces
Chaos, also known as the strange attractor, does not generally
have an accepted precise mathematical definition. Usually from a
practical view point, it can be defined as the bounded steady-state
behavior that does not fall into the categories of the other three
steady-state behaviors i.e. the equilibrium points, periodic
solutions, and quasi periodic solutions [8]. The equilibrium
points are zero dimensional and periodic solutions are one
dimensional, where as strange attractors are more complex and
their dimension is a fraction. A chaotic system is a deterministic
system that exhibits random movement and it is a nonlinear
system that exhibits extreme sensitivity in the state trajectory
with respect to the initial conditions. It has been observed that the
electric fluctuations in an arc furnace are chaotic in nature [12].
The chaotic component of the arc furnace voltage is obtained
from the chaotic circuit of Chua [10]. To exhibit chaos, the
circuit consisting of resistors capacitors and inductors has to
contain the following:
(i) At least one locally active reactor
(ii) At least one nonlinear element.
(iii) At least three energy storage elements
Chua’s circuit satisfies the above requirements.
C. Matlab Simulink Model Of EAF
The development of general dynamic arc model in the form
of a differential equation is based on the principle of conservation
of energy. The approach is fundamentally different from those
methods where some empirical relation is used to represent the
electrical arc. In the dynamic model such relations which are
implicit for steady state conditions are not pre defined and give
result for different conditions depending on both frequency and
current magnitude. Here the arc furnace is modeled in two stages.
First dynamic electric arc modeling is done and the obtained arc
voltage is then modulated with chaotic signal to produce final arc
furnace model.
The power balance equation for the arc is
P1 + P2 = P3 (1)
Where
P1 represents the power transmitted in the form of heat to the
external environment.
P2 represents the power, which increases the internal energy
in the arc, and which therefore affects its radius.
P3 represents the total power developed in the arc and
converted into heat. The above equation can be represented in the
form of differential equation [13] of the arc:
 Ahmed M. Hassan et. Al. – International Conference on New Trends for Sustainable Energy 2016 [ICNTSE]

dr K3
K1 r n + K 2 r = i2 (2)
dt rm+2

Where
r is the arc radius and is chosen as the state variable instead of
taking arc resistance or conductance.
k1, k2 and k3 are constants relative to EAF melting conditions.
m is the variations of the resistivity with temperature.
n is the conditions of cooling.
The arc voltage is given by:
i
v= (3)
g

Where Fig. 4 Dynamic Characteristics of EAF

g is defined as arc conductance and is given by the following This model is then combined with the band limit white noise
equation: to create the chaotic nature of the arc furnace voltage and current
rm+2
parameters as shown in the control structure of EAF as shown in
g= (4) Fig.5 [14-18]
K3

It is possible to represent the different stages of the arcing

process by simply modifying the parameters of m and n. The
complete set of combination of these parameters for different
stages of electric arc can be found in [11].
The state space equations of the above mentioned system
would be in this case:
K3 K1
Ro = i2 - R (5) Fig. 5.Control Structure of Arc Furnace
K2 R3 K2

K3 III. SVC BACKGROUND AND THEORY OF OPERATION

V=i* 2 (6)
R By definition, capacitors generate and reactors (inductors)
Implementing the above equations using Simulink blockset as
shown in Fig.3, taking the parameters K1= 3000; K2 = 1; K3 = 1;
n=2; m= 0 to simulate melting stages, the dynamic
voltage/current characteristic of the electric arc are modeled as
shown in Fig.4.
Fig. 3 MATLAB/ Simulink model of electric Arc Furnace
absorb reactive power when connected to an ac power source.
They have been used with mechanical switches for (coarsely)
controlled var generation and absorption since the early days of
ac power transmission. Continuously variable var generation or
absorption for dynamic system compensation was originally
provided by .over- or under-excited rotating synchronous
machines and, later, by saturating reactors in conjunction with
fixed capacitors.
Since the early 1970’s high power, line-commutated
thyristors in conjunction with capacitors and reactors have been
employed in various circuit configurations to produce variable
reactive output, [19]. These in effect provide a variable shunt
impedance by synchronously switching shunt capacitors and/or
reactors "in" and "out" of the network as shown in Fig.6

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Fig. 2. Power and Voltage profile for EAF#2 on 17.11.15

Fig. 6 SVC Components

The SVC is used to regulate voltage on a system. When

system voltage is low the SVC generates reactive power (SVC
capacitive). When system voltage is high it absorbs reactive
power (SVC inductive) as shown in Fig.7.

Fig. 3. Power and Voltage profile for EAF#2 on 21.11.15

Also, as can be seen below for the integrated P.F along the
heat is about 0.78 and over 0.9 when SVC#1 is on

Fig. 7 SVC Interaction with Power Network Dynamics

IV. FINANCIAL BENEFITS TO STEEL MAKING

PLANTS DUE TO SVC OPERATION
A. CALCULATION OF NETWORK REACTIONS
1) Voltage Drop and Pawer Factor
As can be seen on the below trend that the voltage during
SVC#1 out of Service can reach 30.4 kV as a minimum value. Fig. 4. Power and Voltage profile for one heat EAF#1 when SVC#1 is Off
While when SVC#1 is on service the voltage minimum value
is 32.75 kV.

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A. PayBack Period, Net Present Value (NPV) & Internal Rate

of Return (IRR) Study
Assuming the following figures the NPV & IRR can be calculated as following:
 Capital investement of 45,500,000 L.E
 Benefit 1 from additional 110,160 TMS/year ~ 55,000,000/year
 Benefit 2 from P.F bonus in electric bill ~ 5,000,000/year
 Assuming life time of 20 years and Interest Rate of 10%
 NPV = 465,313,823 L.E in total 20 years lifetime of the project
 IRR= 131.8% which exceeds the accepted 10% rate by 13 times
 Pay Back period 1 year.

V. CONCLUSION
Fig. 4. Power and Voltage profile for one heat EAF#2 when SVC#1 is On
The EAF Matlab model in this paper gives more realistic
Based on the design values of the EAF, the following cases simulation to the EAF taking into consideration its chaotic nature.
are estimated for SMP#1 operation The significant operational benefits can be summarized into
Operation SVC In Service SVC out of Service higher P.F reaching more than 98% which is miraculous for a
Tap 10 10 steel making plant, voltage stabilization on the steel making bus
Name Plate Voltage Ratio 33/0.721 33/0.721 with various EAF loading conditions which means increased
Actual Voltage Ratio 33/0.721 30.9/0.675 production and smoother operation and finally lower flickering,
P.F 0.9 0.78 lower harmonic levels which means cleaner bus at PCC.
Active Power
63 54.6 The financial impact showed that power quality is not only
(MW)
On-TAP Time (min.)* 48.3 55.7 beneficial for utility power grid but also for the plant itself since
# Heats the operation performance showed decrease in On-Tap time by
91.79 90.43
(Turn Around +delays 14.4 min.) 5minutes resulting in increased daily productivity of 3 heats,
* kwh/ton ∗ EAF capacity (tons) ∗ 60 (min) meaning 1,000 Tons molten steel/year which can be estimated to
On Tap time (min.) =
𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 (𝑘𝑊)∗𝐸𝐴𝐹 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦∗𝐸𝐴𝐹 𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑖.𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 achieve payback period for the SVC investment in less than one
year for such application.
The above table shows 4 additional heats for 4 EAF’s due to on tap time saving
with SVC in operation. Also, the SVC network reactions were also discussed to
validate design limits and compare between actual and simulated
The following table shows the actual EAF’s performance with and without SVC network reactions to dynamic loading of EAF’s during SVC
for the same operating conditions:
operation.
Comparison Planned Without SVC in With SVC in VI. REFERENCES
Point of View Figures Operation Operation
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