Techno-economic demand response potentials of the integrated steelmaking site of Tata Steel in IJmuiden

Power generation from intermittent renewable energy in North-West Europe is expected to increase significantly in the next 20 years. This reduces the predictability of electricity generation and increases the need for flexibility in electricity demand. Data on demand response (DR) capacities of large electricity consumers is limited for most countries. Steel production processes are among the industrial processes with the highest DR potentials. In this study, we focus on demand response options provided by changing the electricity generation rate at Tata Steel in IJmuiden (which consumes 3% of total electricity consumption in the Netherlands). For evaluating the technical demand response capacities we have developed a linear optimization model in MATLAB. The model calculates the optimal allocation of works arising gases of Tata Steel in IJmuiden in case of a call for emergency balancing power. The optimization is done subject to the technical constraints of the gas distribution systems and storage potentials, the works arising gas demand of the Tata Steel plant (that use the gases as a fuel) and the ramp-up rate of the power plant that runs on works arising gases. Results show that Tata Steel in IJmuiden can supply 10 MW for two Programme Time Units (i.e. PTU defined as a 15 minute period in the Netherlands by Tennet) of positive DR capacity with an availability rate of 97%. This is not enough for participating in current emergency capacity programs in the Netherlands, which require at least 20 MW for longer than 1 PTU. Tata Steel can provide 20 MW DR capacity with an availability rate of 65%. Therefore, if the availability rate requirements do not drop for the emergency balancing program in the Netherlands, Tata Steel needs to pool with other parties in order to participate in the program. The negative demand response potential of Tata Steel in IJmuiden is found to be 20 MW supplied for 3 PTUs and 4 PTU with doubling of blast furnace gas storage capacities.