Electricity´s contribution to the steel industry

G. E. Stoltz: One important contribution that electricity has made to the steel industry is due to the economy and ease with which energy can be transmitted throughout the plant and the economy with which this energy can be utilized in electric motors. Steam engines were employed to drive machinery in our steel plants before the advent of the electric motor. Steam was usually gererated in several boiler plants as one large boiler plant was not feasible due to the leakage in the long steam lines and the drop in steam pressure. The steel plants in fact had to be laid out with the idea of locating their mills in such a way that a group of them could be near some individual boiler plant. The reciprocating engine does not lend itself to high steam pressures and low vacuum which is possible with the use of steam turbines for generation of electric power. For this reason the generation of the steam was not as economical as is possible where steam turbines are used.