With our unique combination of expertise in technology and materials, we offer reliable solutions for the energy industry to tackle the current challenges, from innovative material concepts to providing suitable joining technologies.
The fields of application for our products within the energy industry include:
Oil and gas exploration
We are a globally recognized producer of equipment components for the global oil and gas industry. The development of storage facilities and transportation of raw materials depend on the use of the most reliable materials and products.
Pipes
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Drilling, stabilizing, extracting: Three different types of pipes are needed for oil and gas exploration. Even if they are used in different phases, they have common properties with durability and load-bearing capacity. The expertise at voestalpine Tubulars ensures their compliance. Their seamless steel tubes guarantee the safe extraction of mineral resources and their further transportation in pipelines.
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Upset and heat-treated green pipes are used in the production of drill pipes. When manufacturing them, we observe the strictest tolerance specifications, for example during upsetting and heat treatment.
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voestalpine Tubulars provides tried-and-tested and environmentally friendly solutions for gases with a higher proportion of (sulfur) hydrogen, so-called acid gases. For the transportation of such unprocessed gases, oil and gas companies also rely on oil field pipes, which are produced from heavy plate, in special applications also roll-bonded, by voestalpine Grobblech.
Connections and aggregates
Dense connections and reliable equipment safeguard the extraction of oil and gas, such as threaded connections from voestalpine Tubulars, which are offered in different designs depending on the area and purpose of use.
Our cast elements from the voestalpine Foundry Group are also available for safe and sustainable use in the oil and gas industry. We supply this industry with ready-to-install and pre-assembled components, e.g. compressor housings, compressors, blowout preventers, or valves.
Materials and prematerials
Oil and gas are often extracted under the most difficult conditions. We supply the appropriate materials for use on the high seas, under the pressure of the sea, or in particularly challenging climatic zones.
- Our heavy plates, e.g. high-strength thermomechanically rolled ship plates, enable the construction of offshore platforms and special vessels for the oil and gas industry.
- We supply voestalpine stainless steels to manufacturers of high-end applications such as high-pressure and wellhead components, distributors, valves, or pumps. Chords, hot-pressed, reinforced racks, are used by our customers in the offshore sector for lifting rigs and boats.
Hydropower
Hydropower is the backbone of low-emission electricity generation worldwide. We supply key components for sustainable power generation in running water, storage, and pumped storage power plants. The forces of water can only be safely and efficiently converted into electrical energy with reliable materials. Therefore, we supply companies in the energy industry with products such as
- forged and cast power plant components,
- heavy plate for pressure pipes,
- special welding consumables, and
- electric strips and pole plates for generators.
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One of the major challenges of the energy transition is how to store sustainably generated electricity. Our pipe connections made of fine-grained steels from voestalpine Grobblech GmbH offer the necessary reliability to withstand the force of water masses, which often plummet over many hundred meters from the storage basin to the generator.
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- The voestalpine Foundry Group supplies numerous cast steel products for turbines for the highly efficient use of hydropower.
- More and more small hydropower plants are being built around the world in the interests of energy generation close to the consumer. For example, our voestalpine company Villares Metals forges shafts for their turbines and generators in Brazil.
Wind power
voestalpine companies offer sophisticated products for all types of wind power generation. This gives us crucial know-how for the further expansion of wind energy.
This includes steel products for
- onshore tower segments,
- offshore foundational structures,
- products for the conversion of energy in wind turbine nacelles, and
- special components for the construction of offshore installations, special vessels, and platforms.
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Approximately 100 to 120 tons of steel are required per megawatt of wind power output; our share of this is not readily visible in some wind turbines. For example, in the case of onshore hybrid towers. For technological and logistical reasons, a tubular steel tower is placed on a prestressed concrete tower below it during its construction. In order to prestress the concrete segments of a tower, our voestalpine Wire Austria supplies about 50 tons of high-strength prestressed steel wire.
Steel dominates all offshore installations on the coasts of the world’s oceans. voestalpine Grobblech GmbH supplies almost 1,000 tons of thermomechanically rolled heavy plate for a “one-legged” monopile foundation with a diameter of 8 meters. Its combination of strength and toughness represents the optimum mix of properties for use on the high seas. These plates also prove their suitability for use on offshore substation platforms.
Further away from the coast, energy producers are increasingly using floating wind turbines; we supply the appropriate plates for their highly stressed floating foundation. The connections between the floating foundation and tower need to withstand huge forces during use. Our high-strength cast steel components offer optimum performance for these transitions. The voestalpine Foundry Group is a manufacturer of such components. Our foundries supply products that are indispensable for the expansion of further offshore capacities: Special cast crane hooks ensure the safe construction of wind turbines in the sea on assembly ships and platforms.
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When wind turbine rotors rotate at up to 300 kilometers per hour, the highest demands are placed on the gearbox and bearings. The materials used must be extremely durable and withstand very high pressure loads as well as strong temperature fluctuations. Wind turbines therefore require higher quality steel, which permits lightweight construction at the same time. The development of such steel grades is one of our strengths. BUDERUS Edelstahl, a company in the voestalpine High Performance Metals Division, has a product portfolio which includes, for instance, prematerials for steel rolling bearings. Once ready to install, the bearings can be up to 7 meters in diameter.
Flanged shafts, which connect the rotor and gearbox, are forged by the voestalpine company Villares Metals, among others. Their shafts for wind turbines reach weights of up to 18 tons.
Photovoltaics (PV)
Photovoltaic systems must be easy and quick to install in every size, from private installations to parks measuring several square kilometers in size. In addition to the optimal alignment of the modules, durability and thus economic efficiency are also essential factors. We help with our long-standing know-how and supply steel components and systems tailored to the application cases: including optimized profiles, tubes, and our own system solutions.
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Photovoltaic modules must be securely mounted and optimally aligned. Our customers’ wide range of different systems, which we have contributed to optimizing in long-term partnerships, make this possible. For example, a large number of voestalpine companies on three continents manufacture individual pipe and profile components for solar power generation. These are then used, for example, in roof systems, but in particular in ground-mounted systems and also in tracking systems, known as trackers. Individual modules or entire module strings in one or two axes can be optimally aligned with the sun, further increasing the solar yield in comparison with fixed installations. In particular, our companies in Brazil and the USA supply a variety of special profiles and other components.
In order to be able to realize larger PV systems, voestalpine Tubulars provides high-load section tubes for the construction of load-bearing frames.
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In addition, voestalpine companies supply entire substructure systems for the assembly of photovoltaic systems. The optimized and roll-formed steel systems are distinguished in particular by simple and rapid handling during assembly and their long service life. Since the components are exposed to heavy loads due to wind, snow, and temperature changes, the focus is on corrosion resistance. As a result, they represent an efficient, cost-effective and above all resource-efficient alternative to aluminum mountings over the life cycle.
- Roll-formed galvanized steel assembly systems, such as Fastslide® and Flexroof® from voestalpine Sadef nv, are successful examples of substructures for ground-mounted or roof systems; we also provide innovative solutions for use on agricultural land, for carports, and floating systems.
- iFIX from voestalpine Automotive Components Schwäbisch Gmünd in Germany is a roof mounting system that allows for a particularly sustainable and efficient conversion of roofs to solar power plants. In addition, the individual components can be stored and transported in a tightly stacked manner, so that they require just one third of the storage and transport capacity of comparable systems.
Power generation
Transforming mechanical energy into electrical energy is the basic principle of power generation. Our isovac® electrical steel strip is a highly sought-after material for use in generators. It makes a significant contribution to improving the performance of renewable energy installations.
Forged shafts from Villares Metals, a company in the High Performance Metals Division, as well as materials and preforged semi-finished products for bearings and transmissions ensure the safe running of generators.
Thermal power plants
Compressors, steam and gas turbines in thermal power plants are permanently exposed to the most extreme loads. At voestalpine, we develop and produce high-strength steels and alloys (at Böhler Edelstahl, for example), which make it possible to continuously improve the efficiency of turbines. These include the sophisticated cast components for steam and gas turbines, e.g. disks for gas turbine compressors made from specially melted structural steels.
If the source of the thermal power is located directly in the ground, pipes and pipe connections for geothermal applications ensure loss-free transportation to the consumers. voestalpine Tubulars also supplies tubes and pipes for pressure applications for heat transfer, e.g. in power plant energy management.
Special welding solutions for the energy industry
The secure installation and operation of energy systems require reliable welded joints. We provide the appropriate welding consumables for each type of system and each application:
- Welding wire-powder combination for wind towers and offshore foundations, specially developed welding consumables for typical hydropower welding applications, such as mechanical joining of pressure pipes, construction and repair of turbines, and repair of cast components.
- The alform® welding system, an integrated system of high-strength base materials from the voestalpine Steel Division and tailored additional materials, offers additional advantages in the design and welding of pressure pipes.
- Development and production of heat-resistant welding consumables in the thermal power plant sector.
- Fontargen Brazing supplies additional materials and fluxes for soldering in generators and transformers.
- voestalpine Böhler Welding produces TÜV-tested welding consumables for the most commonly used base materials in thermal power plants.
- And much more
Hydrogen
Industry and society are increasingly focusing worldwide on the use of sustainably produced “green” hydrogen. The transition to the production, transportation, and storage of this energy source poses challenges in terms of materials and processes.
An example is the new “H2fit” heavy plate product family from voestalpine Grobblech, which has three different uses depending on the application conditions.
Other voestalpine companies already have knowledge and experience in the hydrogen sector. Their expertise in the field of components resistant to acid gas, for example, pays off. voestalpine already makes specific contributions on behalf of its customers, especially for transport and storage solutions as well as for welding consumables:
- hydrogen-tight seamless tubes and threaded connections,
- pressure pipelines made from heavy plate,
- pressure tank solutions for fuel cell vehicles,
- welding consumables for safe connections under the influence of hydrogen pressure, and
- VAhyper®: the hydrogen-tight premium connection from voestalpine Tubulars.