Russian steelmaker NLMK, the largest steelmaker in Russia, which claims to be one of the most efficient in the world, has supplied transformer steel to Siemens Transformers in Voronezh, Central Russia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Siemens AG of Germany.

The steel in question will be used to make a transformer for the Burnoye Solar-2 solar power park, which is currently under construction in Kazakhstan.

On completion, the project – phase 1 of which was completed in 2015 – will be one of the largest solar generation facilities in Eastern Europe and the largest in Central Asia.

NLMK’s Lipetsk steel plant produced 60kt of hot-rolled steel, and cold-rolling and laser treatment of the steel took place at NLMK’s VIZ-Steel facility in Yekateringburg. The laser treatment resulted in a 10% reduction in specific magnetic losses, which ensured that the electrical equipment manufactured by the steel benefits from increased efficiency, claims NLMK.

Siemens Transformers will use the steel to manufacture a 220kW MVA transformer. Equipment for the solar park is due for delivery next year.

Phase 1 and 2 both have a 50MW .