Canada based Algoma Steel Group Inc. announced on August 17 that it has experienced an unplanned outage at its Lake Superior Power (LSP) generating facility in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, forcing the suspension of production at its electric arc furnace (EAF).
According to the company, one of the LSP turbine units detected an abnormal condition and was automatically taken offline, while the remaining LSP units were not affected. As LSP supplies electricity to Algoma's steelmaking operations, EAF production has been halted. Downstream finishing and shipping activities continue.
Algoma stated that, based on current inventory and order positions, it does not expect a significant impact on its ability to meet committed customer delivery dates, though future shipment volumes may be affected by the outage.
The company expects the EAF outage to last no more than 21 days. Algoma is also pursuing an alternative onsite power supply arrangement with the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) which, if approved, could enable EAF operations to restart within approximately 10 days. In the meantime, the company is bringing forward previously scheduled LSP and other operating maintenance in order to reduce future planned downtime.
Algoma owns LSP, having announced the purchased in March of 2018. The neighboring power plant is a 55 MW facility used to supplement its power and steam supply for the steelworks. The previous owner was Brookfield Renewable Power, which shut the plant down in 2014 after failing to reach a power purchase agreement with the province. Algoma then brought it back online on August 1, 2018, initially producing 32 megawatts. The plant can be expanded to 110 MW with a second gas turbine.
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