Covid has continued to make planning difficult in China, where the organizers of wire China 2022 announced that the event—rescheduled several times, with a new location—will be held sometime in 2023 at the original site.
A press release said that the organizers—Messe Düsseldorf (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Electric Cable Research Institute Co.—have decided not to stage wire China this year after considering the still existing Covid-19 restrictions. The event has been originally scheduled for Sept. 26-29, 2022, at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). It was twice rescheduled to a new site—the Nanjing International Expo Center—but will now return to the SNIEC.
For further details on registration, look for updates at the event website: www.wirechina.net.
JDR Cable Systems (JDR) announced signing a substantial subsea cable contract as well as the official beginning of construction of its new U.K. cable plant in in Cambois, near Blyth, Northumberland.
A press release said that the project—previously announced but now finalized with a signed contract—is for inter-array cables (IAC) for the Moray West Offshore Wind Farm, which is part of the Ocean Winds portfolio of U.K. projects. The cable will be manufactured at JDR’s Hartlepool facility.
The IACs will connect the wind turbines back to the offshore substation platforms (OSP) before exporting the power back to the onshore connection point at Blackhillock near Keith. The deal also includes an interconnector cable that will be buried in the seabed to connect the two OSPs. JDR will provide about 125 km of 66 kV subsea cables that will be installed by Seaway 7 ASA.
“Moray West has an essential role to play in the energy transition and as a U.K. manufacturer we are delighted to have won this contract to support the U.K. energy market,” said JDR Sales Director John Price, who noted that there were logistical advantages. “Transporting a cable of this size from overseas would have had large environmental and commercial costs involved.”
The release said that the latest contract confirms the need for JDR to open a new subsea cable manufacturing facility in Cambois, near Blyth, Northumberland. It is part of JDR’s plans to expand its product portfolio to support the growing global renewable energy market, adding high voltage export and long-length array cables to its existing capacity and product capabilities.
JDR’s 69,000-sq-m factory is expected to be operational by 2024. The £130 million project will deliver vital subsea cable manufacturing technology to the offshore wind market. The facility, to include a CCV line, will bet the only facility in the U.K. capable of full start-to-finish manufacturing of high voltage subsea cables for offshore wind farms to support the growing global renewable energy market.
“We’re delighted to be starting construction, it’s taken a lot of hard work from all stakeholders for spades to finally hit the ground today,” said JDR CEO Tomasz Nowak. “This region and the east coast of the U.K. has plans to connect an incredible amount of energy infrastructure in the coming years and we’re proud to be contributing to it in the midst of a growing offshore energy sector.
Nexans SA announced that it has entered into a share purchase agreement with Reka Industrial Plc to acquire Reka Cables for €53 million.
A press release said that the acquisition of the Finnish company will strengthen Nexans’ position in the Nordics, notably in electricity distribution and usages. Founded in 1961, Reka Cables has some 270 employees that manufacture low- and medium-voltages cables.
Reka Cables operates in four countries and was said to have expected 2022 revenues exceeding €160 million. The deal, pending approvals, is expected to be concluded in the first half of 2023. In November 2021, it became one of the first cable manufacturers to become carbon neutral per Scope 1 and Scope 2.
“With a deep commitment to energy transition and carbon neutrality, Reka Cables is fully aligned with the Group’s strategic ambition to become a pure electrification player committed to contribute to carbon neutrality by 2030,” said Nexans CEO Christopher Guérin.
“As a global player in electrification and an active promoter of the energy transition, Nexans is a great fit for Reka Cables,” said Reka Cables CEO Jukka Poutanen.
Hengtong, one of China’s largest cable manufacturers, reports that it has been awarded a contract to supply for the Koh Tao 33 kV Submarine Cable Project in Thailand.
Per the announcement, the order from Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) represents one of the largest submarine cable projects in Thailand. A prior report posted at thailand-construction.com said that the project includes a stretch from Koh Phangan to Koh Tao, a distance of 45 circuit km, and that the power supply system will have a distance of 21 km with two automatic voltage regulators.
The project will provide a continuous reliable and clean power supply to Koh Tao, significantly benefiting its residents, enhancing local tourism and the economy. “It is another breakthrough in the market of South East Asia. We are committed to have a long-term cooperation with local partners and clients,” said Joe Sheng, vice president of Hengtong in the APEC region.
In other news, Hengtong reports that it has delivered 275 km of high-voltage cable for the 900 MW Dubai PV project phase B. The project is the largest PV Power Plant Project under construction in Dubai, using advanced solar power generation technology.
Located in Dubai Maktoum Solar Park and divided into phases A, B and C, the project officially started in July 2020 with a targeted installed capacity of 1,050 MW in total. Once completed, it will become the most advanced demonstration of solar power generation in the UAE, supplying 2.268 billion kWh electricity to 270,000 buildings annually, reducing carbon emissions by 1.1 million tons per year.
Earlier this year, Mexico’s Xignux SA completed the sale of Centelsa, a cable producer in Latin America, to Nexans SA.
A press release said that Centelsa, which manufactures cables for energy and communications, has been part of the industry since 1955. The company was three plants in Cali, Colombia, and a distribution center in Ecuador. Those operations will bolster the presence of Nexans in Latin America, where the company has four industrial plants in Colombia, Peru, Chile and Brazil.
Commented Sergio Valdés, general director of Viakable, a Xignux company, “In our history together with the Centelsa team we have achieved great achievements. ... I am convinced that, together with Nexans, the Centelsa team will continue to be a key player in the industry, offering growth to its collaborators and clients.”
A $300 million consortium-led subsea cable, Asia Link Cable System (ALC), has been announced that calls for 6,000 km of cabling to connect Hong Kong SAR and Singapore, with branches to the Philippines, Brunei and Hainan, China.
A press release said that the project supplier for the optical fiber cable will be HMN Technologies (HMN Tech), which is the rebranded name of Huawei Marine Networks. The project—to boost data capacity in the region and upgrade local capacities—will deploy a minimum of eight fiber pairs, with 18 Tbps per fiber pair minimum trunk design capacity. The system will have an open cable system architecture, enabling all parties to select and maintain independent line terminal equipment in line with their specific customer requirements. It is scheduled to be completed in 2025.
“ALC is a great accomplishment of Asian carriers which overcame difficulties of Covid impacts, and it is also the only subsea project with zero face-to-face meetings from the memorandum of understanding to the construction and maintenance agreement signing in the industry,” said Chang Weiguo, co-chair of ALC.
The consortium, co-led by Singtel and China Telecom Global Limited, also includes China Telecommunications Corporation, Globe Telecom and DITO Telecommunity Corporation and Unified National Networks.
“We started planning and designing the ALC cable more than two years ago at the onset of the pandemic, having anticipated the inevitable growth in high-definition content consumption, trade and innovation in this region,” said Alan Tan, co-chair, ALC (Singtel).
HMN Tech notes that it has deployed over 80,000 km of submarine network systems to date.
The Prysmian Group announced the company has settled proceedings for a patent infringement and invalidity in Germany with FiberHome Telecommunication Technologies Co., Ltd. (FiberHome), a Chinese equipment vendor and global solution provider that offers services in the field of information technology and telecom.
A press release said that Prysmian Group claimed that FiberHome products infringed the German designations of Prysmian’s European Patents EP 2390700 B1 and EP 1,668,392B1 for fiber optic cables. In response, FiberHome initiated nullity proceedings against the Patents before the German Federal Patent Court.
The European Patent EP ‘392 relates to telecom optical cables, and in particular to a telecom optical cable with a highly reduced diameter. The European Patent EP ‘700 relates to optical fiber telecom cables, particularly an optimized stranded optical cable design.
The proceedings were issued by Prysmian Group in July 2020 before the District Court of Munich. Following extensive discussions, the Prysmian Group and FiberHome reached a mutual agreement on terms in relation to product sales happened before the agreement date (whereas future product sales are not covered by the agreement). On the basis of a net balancing payment made by FiberHome to Prysmian, the ongoing proceedings (and any other potential past claims) under the related patent families in Germany, Spain, Poland and the Netherlands were settled.
Finland’s Kuusakoski Oy announced that it is setting up a $7 million wire and cable recycling plant for “aluminum- and copper-containing materials” that will be completed next year in Heinola, Finland.
A press release said that the facility is part of Kuusakoski Oy’s multiyear investment program designed to increase capacity, enhance material yield and deliver cleaner recycled raw material products. “Our new copper center is unique in Finland,” said company President and CEO Mikko Kuusilehto. “With this investment, we are able to serve our customers more locally, which is not only more sustainable for the environment but also financially profitable—both for us and for our customers.”
Kuusakoski said that equipment at the new plant will be able to process copper- and aluminum-containing cables and separate the metals. The copper fraction will then be refined by Kuusakoski in Heinola and the aluminum fraction proceeds to a separate smelter. Until now, the company has only had a similar operation in neighboring Sweden.
The facility will have a precrushing line and a separation line. In the precrushing line, the material is crushed and separated using magnetic separators and a windscreen. In the separation line, the remaining material is granulated into small particles to enable separation. With a production capacity of about 2.5 tons per hour, about 40 tons of copper can be produced per week at the plant, the company estimates.
Kuusakoski said the chopping line will help improve the competitiveness of its Heinola plant, which it calls the largest integrated recycling plant in Northern Europe.
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (Sumitomo) has been awarded a contract from the Prysmian Group to supply 150 km of HVDC submarine cable for the NeuConnect Interconnector, a 1.4 GW power interconnection project between the U.K. and Germany.
A press release said that Sumitomo will supply a section of HVDC mass-impregnated cable to Prysmian PowerLink Services, Ltd., which secured the main contract with NeuConnect. The overall project—that will directly link the German and U.K. electricity grids for the first time— calls for some 725 km of land and subsea cables. They will enable up to 1.4 GW of electricity to move in either direction, enough to power up to 1.5 million homes over the life of the project.
The submarine cable, which forms part of the offshore cable route between the two countries, will be manufactured at Sumitomo’s Osaka Works in Japan. The order represents Sumitomo’s sixth European HVDC power link project after MON. ITA (Montenegro-Italy), NEMO (UK-Belgium), A-Nord HVDC project (Germany), Kontek (Germany-Denmark) and Greenlink (Ireland-GB).
“We are honored to be the supplier for this project, which will form part of critical infrastructures to achieve net-zero emissions,” said Sumitomo Managing Executive Officer Yasuyuki Shibata.
The NeuConnect Interconnector is a private project by international investors, including Meridiam, Allianz Capital Partners and Kansai Electric Power.
South Korea’s LS Cable & System (LS C&S) has won an order valued at $167 million to supply high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) cables for the Norfolk Boreas Offshore Wind Farm in the U.K.
A press release said the LS C&S order is from Sweden’s Vattenfall AB, which is one of Europe’s largest producers and retailers of electricity and heat. The order calls for 320 kV cables that will lie under the sea. The underground cables will use cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) as an insulating material, which it described as a first.
Per multiple media reports, the Norfolk Boreas offshore cable corridor, using about 96 km, will include export cables to deliver the electricity supplied to the offshore substations to landfall that will be in the Happisburgh village in Norfolk county. The onshore part of the offshore wind farm development will include the installation of underground cables between an onshore substation related to the project and an existing substation of the national grid. The onshore cable corridor is expected to be 63 km.
Located 47 km off the Norfolk coast, Norfolk Boreas is the first of two stages of Vattenfall’s Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone. Per DEME Offshore, which is part of the project consortium with LS C&S, they have also been named a preferred supplier for the second part: the Norfolk Vanguard. Each wind farm will have a capacity of 1.8 GW.
“Only a handful of firms have succeeded in developing XLPE cables defined by easy installation, connection, maintenance and repair,” an LS Cable & System official said. “The cables are increasingly emerging as a mainstream product in the renewable industries of Europe and North America.”
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