Siemens (www.siemens.com) is to equip a number of Chinese aluminium factories with medium- and low- voltage drives, in a project costing millions of euros.

Commissioning will be completed in several stages between November 2018 and April 2019.

Siemens will supply the drive technology for cold-rolling mills near Liaoyang in north-east China, and for a cold- and hot-rolling mill near the port of Yingkou, which is also in Liaoning Province.

The scope of delivery for the medium-voltage drive system comprises Sinamics SM150 frequency converters, the entire drive control system, cooling plant, engineering station, associated project management, hardware and software engineering, and the low-voltage drive components.

In addition, a heavy-plate mill will be fitted with low-voltage equipment. This plant is located near Rizhao, a city in Shandong Province in eastern China, where Sinamics S120 low-voltage frequency converters will be used.

In order to guarantee the agreed key performance indicators, the order stipulates the need for multiple tests (uncoupled and coupled test runs, availability test, load optimisation, final test) to be performed at the plant.