OREANDA-NEWS. November 01, 2012. A new section-steel production line based on technology supplied by GE’s Power Conversion business (NYSE: GE) has been tested and commissioned and will enter commercial service by the end of this year at the Kunsteel steel mill in China’s Yunnan Province. The project will help the Kunsteel mill meet a growing demand for section steel to support the construction of tall buildings in China’s largest cities.

Located in Anning City near Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan, the project features the first line to produce section steel for the construction industry in Southwest China. Kunsteel is a holding company of Wuhan Iron and Steel Group, one of the largest iron and steel companies in China. The project was executed by a team including GE’s Power Conversion unit in Shanghai and Converteam Wuhan Automation Co., Ltd. (CONWAC), a joint venture between Converteam and Wisco Engineering & Technology Group Co., LTD.

“Our localization strategy was the key to the success of this project,” said Bhanu Shekhar, commercial leader of GE’s Power Conversion China. “The localized engineering, production and service helped to keep project costs down while speeding up delivery of the equipment and enhancing communication among the project participants.”

This is the first time that Power Conversion China supplied a complete set of electrical automation and MV7000 drive systems for local section mill production line for the metals industry. The high-performance MV7000 medium-voltage drives bring innovation to the field of large drives and give an effective answer to customers’ increasing demand for outstanding performance and reliability and low operational costs.

GE supplied electrical automation equipment and a new drive system for Kunsteel, including four HPCi controllers, Ethernet and ProfiBus-DP communication systems, an 8-megawatt MV7308 medium voltage drive, and 10, 1.5-megawatt drives with AFE rectifiers. The cold-load testing of the new production line was completed in just 12 days—which GE believes is a record for testing this type of automation and drive system.

“China’s steel mills face a growing demand for section steel from the country’s booming construction industry,” said Lin Gang, technical director of GE’s Power Conversion business. “By increasing our local presence and capabilities, GE is well positioned to serve customers in this dynamic segment.”