AK Steel Applauds U.S. DOE Transformer Efficiency Ruling
04/22/2013 - AK Steel applauded the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) final ruling on efficiency standards for electrical distribution transformers, which it says ensures that transformers in America will remain among the most energy-efficient in the world, and that high-tech electrical steels will continue to be a competitive material in the marketplace.
AK Steel applauded the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) final ruling on efficiency standards for electrical distribution transformers. The rule was published in the Federal Register on 18 April 2013 following an extensive comment and review process. It ensures that transformers in America will remain among the most energy-efficient in the world, and that high-tech electrical steels will continue to be a competitive material in the marketplace.
“As a global leader in the production of high-efficiency electrical steel products, we are pleased with the Department of Energy’s new standards,” said James L. Wainscott, chairman, president and CEO of AK Steel. “The ruling is good for America, and it leaves AK Steel well-positioned to meet the needs of its electrical power distribution customers for years to come.”
The DOE’s new standards, which become effective in 2016, are not expected to significantly impact the overall competitiveness of the company’s grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) products used in electrical distribution transformers. In fact, with respect to some types of distribution transformers, the new standards have the potential to increase the market for GOES.
AK Steel’s grain-oriented electrical steels are some of the highest value-added specialty products available in the steel industry. They are iron-silicon alloys with specific magnetic properties necessary to produce highly efficient and economical electrical transformers.
AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steels, primarily for automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, construction and electrical power generation and distribution markets. The company employs about 6,100 men and women in Middletown, Mansfield, Coshocton and Zanesville, Ohio; Butler, Pa.; Ashland, Ky.; Rockport, Ind.; and its corporate headquarters in West Chester, Ohio.
