The Beryl Solar Farm, completed in June 2019, is located in New South Wales, Australia. For this project involving 260 000 solar panels, ArcelorMittal Projects Exosun supplied their innovative solar tracking technology as well as a full range of services including plant design support, logistics, training, and on-site management support.

ArcelorMittal Projects Exosun's Exotrack®

The 110 MWp solar plant, built by Downer, a leading Australian EPC*, is equipped with 531 trackers and 8607 Exotrack® HZ V2 structures produced by ArcelorMittal Projects Exosun with about 30% of the components manufactured by Alliance Metal Changzhou, part of ArcelorMittal Projects.

Thanks to its balanced design and structural stiffness, our Exotrack® HZ V2 offers greater reliability and limited operating expense. It is a centralised tracker with only 4 motors per MWp with high flexibility on uneven ground and unrivalled simplicity resulting in a smooth and fast installation.

Benefits of solar tracking technology

ArcelorMittal Projects Exosun’s LCOE**-friendly tracking technology significantly increases the plant’s energy yield and thereby contributes to providing clean and safe electricity to Australian households and public transportation. This project will bring significant economic and environmental benefits to the New South Wales region by:

•     helping power the NSW government-owned North West Sydney Metro train lines (another project involving ArcelorMittal)
•     producing enough energy to power 25 000 homes
•     allowing a reduction of more than 167 000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year
•     creating new jobs

Commissioning took place in May 2019, just 12 months after the contract was signed, and the farm was completed in June 2019. "With the Beryl Solar Farm, ArcelorMittal is consolidating its position in a growing Australian solar market," concludes Antoine Gastineau, Sales & Marketing Director at ArcelorMittal Projects Exosun.

*Engineering, Procurement, and Construction
**Levelised Cost of Energy

Text: ArcelorMittal Europe Communications, Constructalia
Photo: ArcelorMittal Projects Exosun

ArcelorMittal will be taking part in these upcoming events:

XII Congress of Steel and Composite Construction 2019
21-22 November in Coimbra
This event will promote the most recent innovations and achievements in this type of construction with a special focus on 'Steel structures as an answer to climatic changes.'

‘Trends and innovations for the design of steel bridges of tomorrow’ symposium
28 November in Paris
ConstruirAcier, in partnership with ArcelorMittal, is organising this symposium, which will present the advantages of building bridges with steel solutions.

GwB 2019 – IX Geoengineering in Construction Conference
3-5 December in Kraków
This year’s edition will begin with a day of workshops followed by the two-day conference.

Architect@Work
29-30 January in London
Visit ArcelorMittal at booth 30 at this exclusive trade event for architects and interior designers.

Check out our events map for details and more events: Events map

ConstruirAcier, in partnership with ArcelorMittal, is organising a symposium on 'Trends and innovations for the design of steel bridges of tomorrow' on 28 November 2019 in Paris.

More efficient and durable bridges

Whether it's long-span bridges using thick products, composite steel-concrete bridges using high strength rolled sections, or bridges with sheet pile abutments, the steel industry is continuously innovating for the design of ever more efficient and sustainable bridges.

As an example, a recent life cycle analysis study has demonstrated that road bridges with supports and abutments in sheet piles save construction time and the limit the maintenance of these bridges, considerably reducing the overall cost of the project.

Representing ArcelorMittal

ArcelorMittal Global R&D, ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products, ArcelorMittal Europe – Long Products Sections and Merchant bars and Sheet Piling will all join the event.

Marc Gratier de Saint-Louis, Sales Engineer France at ArcelorMittal Europe - Long Products, will talk about the use of steel sheet piles for infrastructure (technical solutions and life cycle analysis).

Riccardo Zanon, Research Engineer at ArcelorMittal Global R&D, will give a presentation on new solutions to combine economy and sustainability.

Patrick Le Pense, Segment Manager Civil Engineering and Building Envelope at ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products, will present the innovations in plates for medium and long span structures.

Programme & registration

Check out the programme and register here.

Text: ArcelorMittal Europe Communications
Image: ConstruirAcier

Mini-Air is a new covering system for soft fruits such as strawberries and blackberries. Developed by Meteor Systems from the Netherlands, Mini-Air provides protection from the elements and an ideal growing environment. Meteor Systems utilises Granite® from ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products to create growing gutters which are an integral part of the Mini-Air system. Normally used for cladding, roofs, and gutters, Granite® can also withstand the aggressive growing environment required for strawberries and remains food safe over the decade-long life of the tray.

The ideal climate for crops

Meteor Systems developed the Mini-Air system to create the ideal climate for crops. The low structure offers good ventilation, which is necessary to minimise the chance of disease or moisture affecting the crop. Gutters at the roof level gather rain from the covers which can be stored and used to water the plants. Underneath the cover, the Granite® growing beds are raised to create an ergonomic working environment for pickers and maintenance personnel.

Granite® roll-formed on site

A key advantage of Mini-Air is that it can be tailored to the constraints of each location, as Sebastiaan Smeur, account manager for Meteor Systems explains: “Mini-Air is designed to be installed on site by a fruit grower or local contractor. They just need simple tools to complete the installation. For example, the Granite® steel is roll-formed into growing gutters to ensure there are no joins.”

Each gutter can be up to 300 metres in length, although 100 metres is usually specified as it is the best length for maintenance and picking. However, the exact length can be decided by the grower in line with their practices and the area available.

Meteor Systems typically uses Granite® Standard or HDS to form the growing trays. The steel is either 0.6 or 0.8 mm thick, depending on the fruit to be grown. As well as supporting the growing plants, the gutter enables growers to re-use excess water. “Growers typically give plants 125 percent of the water and nutrients they need,” explains Mr Smeur. “The water the plants don’t use is collected and analysed. For example, growers can check the volume of water consumed, and what nutrients are left in the water. This allows them to closely monitor the health of their plants and adjust the parameters if required.”

Food safe and sustainable

The substrate used to grow strawberries is very aggressive. Nutrients which are added to the irrigation water can also have an impact. “Granite® is ideal in this application because it has multiple coating layers,” notes Mr Smeur. “We can specify polyurethane and polyester coatings on one or both sides, depending on the plants to be grown.”

Granite® is part of ArcelorMittal's Nature range. These steels do not contain hexavalent chromium (recognised as a human carcinogen) or heavy metals and comply with Europe’s REACH regulation on the registration, evaluation, authorisation, and restriction of chemicals. All Granite® production lines have achieved the ECCA Premium® label which sets minimum standards for the quality and sustainability of prepainted metals.

A long-term partnership

ArcelorMittal and Meteor Systems first started working together in the late 1990s. At that time, Meteor Systems began producing its first growing gutters using steel from ArcelorMittal. “We’ve been making these systems for almost 20 years and the first project we installed is still in use,” says Mr Smeur.

Flat pack on an industrial scale

Introduced in 2016, the Mini-Air system is now being used by fruit growers around the world to grow strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. “Mini-Air was developed with the involvement of growers and to solve their problems,” says Mr Smeur. “We continue to work with them after the system is installed to find ways we can make it easier to install and use.”

Growers typically order a Mini-Air system directly from Meteor Systems. The company then ships everything as a flat pack. “It’s like an IKEA product but on a much larger scale,” says Mr Smeur. “Everything the grower needs is there, including an installation manual. They can build it themselves or hire a local contractor to do the installation.”

Contact with our support teams

Meteor Systems is regularly in contact with ArcelorMittal’s technical support teams. “ArcelorMittal is very reliable and produces good quality steels,” says Mr Smeur. “With ArcelorMittal we have a long and close relationship and we work very easily together. If we have a problem, we know they can help.”

Granite® is the perfect choice for the Mini-Air growing gutters because of its environmental credentials says Mr Smeur: “Fruit growing needs to be a safe and sustainable industry. Because it is made of steel, Granite® is fully recyclable. And its stable coating is fully food safe.”

About Meteor Systems

Meteor Systems was founded in 1997 to manufacture drip irrigation systems for vegetable and fruit growers. Today the company develops, produces, and supplies the international horticulture industry with complete and moveable systems for cultivation, irrigation, and growing. Meteor Systems is headquartered in Breda, the Netherlands and has offices and a production facility in Ontario, Canada.

More info: www.meteorsystems.nl

Text: ArcelorMittal Europe Communications
Photos: Meteor Systems

Check out our new Granite® colour palette!

The Granite® family of prepainted steels from ArcelorMittal Europe - Flat Products offers an outstanding selection of colour, textures, and finishes. Whether you need a high gloss finish or an extremely tactile surface, Granite® has what you are looking for.

Our Granite® family includes:

•    High quality steels guaranteed up to 35 years against perforation and paint delamination and up to 10 years against UV, wherever the Granite® coil is produced. All our steels have been tested outdoors in different environments, resulting in proven corrosion and UV resistance.
•    Different textures and finishes to match almost any request
•    A wide choice of colours, from light to dark, including metallic finishes. We can provide specific colours and gloss units (GU) on demand.

Granite® is part of ArcelorMittal's Nature range of organic coated steels. That means it is free of heavy metals and chromates in compliance with the European Union's REACH regulation on the registration, evaluation, authorisation, and restriction of chemicals.

Design facades with the look of weather-resistant steel! ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products is the first manufacturer in Europe to offer a 'look-alike' patina finish with long-term durability guarantees: Granite® Impression Patina is a new prepainted steel that is ideal for profiling and deep drawing.

Find out more about Granite® Impression Patina here!

ArcelorMittal Europe - Long Products has released an updated version of our software for the pre-design of steel or composite cellular beams with circular openings in cold and fire conditions: ACB+ version 3.17.

You can download the update for free on our software page:

Tools - Software

For the third consecutive year, ArcelorMittal has won the Steelie Award for excellence in sustainability. Announced at the World Steel Association’s annual dinner in Monterrey, Mexico, the nod distinguishes the company’s industry leadership on sustainability amid the growing pressure steel companies are facing to outline their approach to reducing carbon emissions.

A commitment to reduce emissions

The award was given in recognition of the company’s publication of the steel sector’s first Climate Action report in May 2019. The report set out the three pathways the company believes can lead to deep decarbonisation of steelmaking, the various low-emissions technologies the company is trialling, and the public policy required to make low-emissions steel a reality. It also confirms ArcelorMittal’s commitments to the objectives of the Paris Agreement and outlines the company’s ambition to significantly reduce emissions across the group, including reaching carbon neutrality in Europe by 2050.

A unanimous win

Accepting the Steelie, Brian Aranha, executive vice president, head of strategy, CTO, R&D, CCM, global automotive, communications and corporate responsibility said:
 
“I am delighted to be able to collect this award for the third year in a row, particularly as I am told that the jury voted unanimously that ArcelorMittal should win it. We are immensely proud of the forward-thinking resource our people have put together to build stakeholder understanding of what a transition to a low-carbon steel industry means in practice. Although the report does not have all the answers, it is prompting some very important conversations with our stakeholders across the steel industry and beyond. Having these conversations will be essential to develop the collaborative approach the world needs to take if we are to unlock the full potential of the steel industry’s efforts to decarbonise. This includes working with governments around the world to develop consistent and supportive policy frameworks to enable our industry to succeed in meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement.”

Text: ArcelorMittal Corporate Communications

Photo: ArcelorMittal

Presenting Constructalia's new glossary for steel in construction! Over 70 terms are currently available in our glossary section, with more terms being added regularly.

Glossaries in our various language versions are coming soon!

Check it out here: Glossary