Join Steligence® for this free English-language webinar on Wednesday 5 May 2021 at 13.00 CET.

Topic: Looking for flat steels highly protective against corrosion for your building? Discover Magnelis®

Presenter: Jérôme Guth, ArcelorMittal Europe - Flat Products

Click here to register.

Raw materials play a fundamental role in the long-term durability and safety of buildings. Quality raw materials increase lifetime, reduce maintenance costs, and help prevent early and major repairs.

Magnelis® protects against corrosion three times better than galvanised steel, is easy to process (profiling, bending, cutting), has a lower environmental impact, and is available in a wide range of thicknesses and high strength steel grades.

In this free webinar, Magnelis® performances with facts and figures will be presented, including field test results in various environments. Its many applications and the value this product can bring to your building projects will be covered.

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The Royal Dutch Mint building, known as the Dutch Vault, in Houten in the Netherlands has won the People’s Choice Award at the 2020 Infosteel Steel Construction Competition. The spectacular facade for this iconic building was made with high-gloss Granite® Silky Shine from ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products.

Steel Construction Competition

Infosteel announced the winners of their 2020 Steel Construction Competition on 22 February 2021. Held annually, the competition is in its 21st year. Participation is open to any new construction or renovation built totally or partially in steel on Belgian soil. Projects outside of Belgium are eligible provided that a significant part of the project was headquartered in Belgium, as was the case for the Dutch Vault.

In addition to award categories of non-residential, residential, specific steel elements, and industrial buildings, the People’s Choice Award has been a part of Infosteel’s Steel Construction Competition for several years. More than 2700 people voted, selecting the Dutch Vault as their steel building of choice for 2020.

Facetted cladding with Granite® Silky Shine

The exterior of the Royal Dutch Mint building resembles a safe with almost no visible opening. The unique design was inspired by the relief particular to the euro coins minted in the Netherlands. The cladding of this golden facade is made up of profiled and prepainted steel sheets (Isis 55-120/7 triangular profiles fabricated by ArcelorMittal Construction using prepainted Granite® Silky Shine Gold 50µm steel from ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products) which have been placed in different directions with the vertical and horizontal layers coming together to form the facetted facade. The Granite® Silky Shine facade is attached to the concrete building using a substructure made with Magnelis®, also from ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products.

Text:
Constructalia

Images:
SWAD Video
LT Photography

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Royal Dutch Mint building: The 3D effect is heightened because every triangle of the facade is at a different angle to its neighbours.

Royal Dutch Mint building: facade view

Government incentives and lower infrastructure costs are driving the boom in solar energy across Eastern Europe. Magnelis®, from ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products, is increasing the attractiveness of solar for investors as it extends the lifespan of solar farms. Two of Poland’s largest manufacturers of photovoltaic support systems are Energy5 and Corab. Both use Magnelis® to create long-lasting solar farms which will generate clean energy for decades to come. In solar farm applications, ArcelorMittal offers long-term guarantees on Magnelis® of up to 25 years. This ensures that new solar farms will provide an adequate return on the investment over their lifetime. Both Corab and Energy5 are using the advantages of Magnelis® to move beyond Poland and explore opportunities in nearby countries, and even further afield.

Magnelis®: “a game changer”

For Energy5, the Magnelis® success story began in 2016 when the company’s senior leadership met ArcelorMittal’s commercial and technical teams to share their vision for Magnelis® in solar structures. “We had tested Magnelis® at the Institute of Precision Mechanics in Warsaw, Poland,” explains Piotr Żbikowski, President of the Energy5 Management Board. “But a meeting with ArcelorMittal confirmed the outstanding corrosion resistance of Magnelis®. We knew it would be a game changer.”

Around the same time, Corab learnt about Magnelis® through its close relationship with ArcelorMittal Downstream Solutions Poland. “At Corab, we decided to utilise Magnelis® for its strength, exceptional anti-corrosion properties, self-healing on cut edges, and long guarantees,” says Henryk Biały, CEO of Corab. “Magnelis® is now the backbone of our installations and one of our main competitive advantages.”

The experience of both companies proves that the market requirements for durable structures and increasingly higher guarantees continue to grow. Therefore, they look to more advanced, high strength steels with even more durable metallic coatings.

Lighter and stronger photovoltaic solutions

Henryk Biały believes that Magnelis® has completely changed the solar industry in Eastern Europe. “Thanks to Magnelis®, solar systems have become lighter, stronger, and more resistant to mechanical and chemical damage. Traditional galvanised products have much lower corrosion resistance. To achieve a similar level of performance to Magnelis®, the zinc coating would have to be very thick, making the structure much heavier.”

The exceptional features of Magnelis® have enabled Corab’s photovoltaic systems to become more competitive on the international market. The company has now installed systems in 18 European countries, with a total capacity of more than 500 megawatts (MW) in the first half of 2020.

In 2020, Energy5 provided Magnelis® support structures for the largest photovoltaic plant connected in Poland to date. “This solar farm will have the capacity to produce approximately 50 MW of energy,” notes Piotr Żbikowski. “We are completing other complex solar projects, including an investment in Hungary. This project involves the construction of a photovoltaic power plant across four locations. When completed, it will have a total capacity of 80 MW.”

Production and product development support

Both Energy5 and Corab rely on support and new product development from ArcelorMittal to get the most out of Magnelis®. “We worked with ArcelorMittal to ensure the properties of Magnelis® are not affected during production,” says Henryk Biały. “As our designs meet their recommendations, ArcelorMittal can guarantee the corrosion protection of the Magnelis® we process.”

“We set new trends by constantly looking for innovative solutions that will allow us to deliver the safest photovoltaic mounting systems on the market,” says Piotr Żbikowski. “Energy5 is one of the first customers to test innovations in Magnelis® on different steels. Once these solutions are fully commercialised, we will be able to meet the growing demand from the market for solar structures with optimised structures and even better durability.”

Energy5

Energy5 is an international supplier of ground-mounted solar systems, roof and facade systems, and freestanding systems for parking spaces (AUTOBOX). The company provides individual and optimised design selection. Thanks to the high quality of their systems and comprehensive service (confirmed, for example, by TÜV Rheinland and national research institutes), the company has been able to expand their operations in Central and Eastern Europe.

Energy5 currently operates two production plants which supply fixing systems for photovoltaic modules to clients in Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine. The company’s manufacturing plants include five computer-controlled lines which enable Energy5 to fulfil orders quickly and produce special projects tailored to a client’s requirements.

More info: www.energy5.pl

Corab

Corab has specialised in the production of steel and aluminium products and traded in electronic parts for nearly three decades. This experience has made the company a leader in the manufacturing of solar energy systems in Europe and beyond. Production takes place in a modern plant which uses automatic processes, supervised by a specialised staff of nearly 250 people. Corab’s systems have passed numerous laboratory and strength tests which confirm their quality and safety. Systems bear the CE mark, confirming they comply with European standards.

More info: corab.eu

Text:
ArcelorMittal Europe Communications
Constructalia

Images:
Energy5
Corab

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Magnelis® for solar mounting systems

Installation of solar mounting systems with Magnelis®

Solar panels with Magnelis® mounting systems

Solar farm with Magnelis®

Close up of solar structure with Magnelis®

Magnelis® on solar frame close up

Large solar farm with Magnelis®

Energy5 manufacturing

Magnelis® for solar mounting systems

Henryk Biały, Corab CEO

Piotr Żbikowski, President of the Energy5 management board

Solar photovoltaic plants are designed to last at least 20 to 25 years. They are built in various climates (tropical, industrial, etc.), locations (sea shores, islands, etc.), or geological soils (including the most aggressive).

Supporting structures

The supporting structures for PV panels must withstand these conditions while generating minimal maintenance costs. These requirements are extremely demanding. For these reasons, ArcelorMittal offers Magnelis® - a steel with excellent corrosion resistance that is at least three times better than traditional galvanised steel. Magnelis® exhibits a self-healing effect in the event of scratches, which also improves edge protection.

Magnelis®: best in class solution

With excellent in-use properties and a wide range of feasibility, Magnelis® is one of the best in class and most cost-effective alternatives to post-galvanised steels. Since its launch in 2012, Magnelis® has been selected by many solar players around the world to provide superior protection for long-lasting mounting structures, even in the most adverse environments, and for several very large installations.

Innovations

The Magnelis® range is constantly improving, and the latest innovation is a new range specially created for rammed poles in soils.

Last but not least, the combination of Magnelis® with the new high strength steel grade S550GD-HyPer® offers additional opportunities for structural improvement for solar structures leading to reduced weight and costs.

Text: ArcelorMittal Europe Communications, Constructalia
Images: ES_SO / Shutterstock.com, Forming AG, PVH, CWF

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Solar panels

Solar farm

Solar panel mount

Solar panels under snow