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.”

Autac, a manufacturer of coiled cords founded by Robert N. Burkle in 1947, celebrated the company’s 75th anniversary with an event at Bill Miller’s Castle in Branford, Connecticut.

The event was hosted by company President Marie Burkle. “It is with a great sense of pride that we have come this far,” she told the audience of some 85 people, which included employees and their families/guests, suppliers, industry colleagues and state Senator Christine Cohen. “No business can make 75 years without relationships,” she said. For a business, that means employees, vendors and local community leaders. “All have helped us in different ways,” and that support enabled the company to survive and thrive.”

Burkle called up a number of employees to single them out for their contributions. Speaking later, she said, “It is a source of great pride for me, the last Burkle, to keep my father’s legacy going and certainly a reason to celebrate. The day was also an opportunity to give our staff the recognition they so deeply deserve.”

At the same time, Burkle shared different thoughts in her speech. She singled out some industry vendors, saying they could also be a company’s biggest liability. She cited the “80-20” rule, referring to the axiom that 80 percent of business often comes from 20 percent of customers.

In hard times, such as the last few Covid years, that has resulted in a much harder business atmosphere, Burkle said. “Our minimums increase, our prices go up, the lead times go out and payment terms become so unreasonable that it bankrupts many small businesses. How can one eat their young and hope to survive for more generations? I’ve never understood that.”

That assessment does not apply to all vendors, and Burkle thanked Mexichem for being a reliable business partner, presenting the company a plaque for their consistently good work.

Burkle said it was important for her to hold the event at Bill Miller’s Castle as the founder, the late Bill Miller, and her late father, were together in Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce back in the 60’s and 70’s. “Also, Bill Miller was a huge help and supporter of me when I served as president of the North Branford Chamber. He and that fabulous building have a special place in my heart!”