Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie said Monday that an “unplanned” power outage to its electricity-producing turbines has forced it to stop production at its electric arc furnace. While the stoppage isn’t expected to affect deliveries to its customers, the company said the shutdown could last from 10 to 21 days. “One of the (Lake Superior Power) turbine units detected an abnormal condition and was automatically taken offline,” the steelmaker said in a news release Aug. 17. “The company’s technical teams, together with external specialists, are onsite assessing the condition of the affected equipment and evaluating various alternatives available to the company and developing an appropriate plan to facilitate timely repairs.” Looking for alternatives The company is moving up some other previously planned maintenance on its generators “in order to reduce future planned downtime.” “Because LSP supplies electricity to Algoma’s steelmaking operations, the company has suspended production at its electric arc furnace,” the release said. “Downstream finishing and shipping activities continue. Based on current inventory and order positions, the company does not expect a significant impact on its ability to meet committed customer delivery dates. However, the company expects future shipment volumes may be affected by the outage.” Algoma is looking at whether it can use alternative sources of electricity to restart its electric furnace while repairs are being completed. “The company is currently assessing the potential duration of the outage and the associated operational and financial impacts,” Algoma said. “Based on the current assessment, the company expects the EAF outage to last no more than 21 days, reflecting the anticipated timeline to commission the contracted spare turbine. If an alternative source of electricity is found, however, EAF operations could restart within 10 days. “Algoma will provide a further update when the assessment is completed and a timeline for the restart of EAF operations is established,” the release said.
