ArcelorMittal - Steel for towers and turbines

ArcelorMittal is the world's leading steel and mining company, with a presence in 60 countries and an industrial footprint in 19 countries. Guided by a philosophy to produce safe, sustainable steel, we are the leading supplier of quality steel in the major global steel markets, with world-class research and development and outstanding distribution networks.

Sustainability commitment

ArcelorMittal works in close partnership with its customers and suppliers to help them achieve their environmental goals through innovation in steel solutions, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate their impact. We are managing our production facilities in a responsible way and with the objective of reducing our CO₂ emissions and increasing the energy efficiency of our operations.

Steel is used to create more than 80% of the components required to build a wind turbine. Valued for its strength, flexibility and durability in the field, steel is also 100% recyclable, making wind energy truly renewable.

A comprehensive steel offer

ArcelorMittal offers a wide range of qualitative steels for foundations towers, flanges, nacelle structures, connections, gearing, bearings, and generators.

• Foundations and flanges: ArcelorMittal SBQ steels for anchoring ensure durable and long-lasting foundations of the wind tower structure. Special profiles for flanges with high cleanliness available in sections with up to 250kg/m of metric weight serve to produce flange connections for the tower.
• Tower: ArcelorMittal has supplied quarto plate for more than 5,000 wind towers since 2005 from our mills in Spain (Gijon) and Romania (Galati). ArcelorMittal also supplies hot rolled coils from higher strength steels known as Amstrong® for taller constructions, also called shell towers. ArcelorMittal can deliver plate shot blasted, cut and bevelled if required. This offer is completed by the widest range of merchant bars for the secondary steel of the tower.
• Nacelle: ArcelorMittal offers a large variety of specific beams suitable for the main frame of the nacelle. Quarto plates are also used for manufacturing of the structure.
• Generator: ArcelorMittal supplies a full range of electrical steels for the medium and high-power generators adapted to the different types of technology. These steels possess all of the required magnetic properties to maximise the amount of energy each turbine can produce. As well as steel grades that meet the EN 10106 standard, ArcelorMittal offers electrical steels with high permeability or low losses. Different thicknesses are available to meet the requirements of all designs.
• Gearbox, yaw and pitch: Special seamless rolled rings can be offered with large diameter to answer different needs.

Worldwide presence

A total of 18 sites located in North America, Europe and South Africa, from ArcelorMittal Long Carbon, ArcelorMittal Ringmill and ArcelorMittal Flat Carbon Europe produce steels for all major parts of a wind turbine.

These worldwide industrial operations, strategically located with easy access to sea routes, backed by an international sales and distribution network, are a key asset to answer the needs of all wind energy industry players.

Full co-engineering approach

ArcelorMittal's global R&D department includes more than 1,300 world-class researchers located in 11 laboratories around the world. Their experience and knowledge of steel enables ArcelorMittal to support its customers in developing new solutions, by integrating material, design and fabrication processing know-how.

ArcelorMittal offers a full engineering approach, from characterisation of materials to component testing. In-house equipment is available in our facilities to test improved welding methods. Modelling and simulation tools allow design and engineering challenges to achieve maximum efficiency.

An active collaboration with certification institutes helps to ensure the relevance of our research.