The Interwire trade exposition held in Atlanta from May 8-11, 2023, provided the perfect backdrop for two remarkable Chapter Board meetings which demonstrated commitment to growth, collaboration, and fostering the next generation of leaders.
Western Chapter. After an eight-year hiatus, the Western Chapter emerged from its slumber with a renewed sense of purpose. Committed volunteers from the region, including California and Texas, took the reins to form the new Western Chapter Board. Their primary objective: to revitalize the chapter, forge connections and promote the benefits of joining the vibrant wire industry.
The board used this in-person meeting opportunity to begin discussing the groundwork and layout. Essentially, a roadmap of what is needed to set their plans in motion. The first order of business is to build a strong member base, actively reaching out to professionals and organizations throughout the Western region. Emphasizing the power of networking, the board aims to create a dynamic platform where industry experts can exchange knowledge, establish meaningful connections, and foster collaborations.
Again, this is still the early stage, but it is an exciting one that will take time to develop, and the leadership roles in the Western Chapter will be defined as more progress is made.
As part of their revitalization efforts, the Western Chapter Board discussed hosting a small golf tournament in 2024. Stay tuned as details develop over the coming months. If you are interested in becoming involved with the Association’s Western Chapter at this time, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Ohio Valley Chapter. The Ohio Valley Chapter focused on finalizing details for their highly anticipated golf tournament scheduled for August 24. Designed to provide participants with both enjoyment and educational value, the tournament will include three insightful sessions on industry trends, developments and best practices.
As a testament to their commitment to fostering future talent, the Ohio Valley Chapter continues work to unveil their new scholarship program, slated to launch in 2024. The chapter has developed an official criteria and eligibility sheet, which will be circulated among members soon.
Reported by WAI Membership Manager John Markowski
Service Wire reported multiple personnel news. Matt Shumway has been promoted to national sales manager for the utility market, responsible for driving specification approvals and increasing market share nationwide. He joined the company as a regional sales manager, utility. He attended the University of Texas at San Antonio. Shane Berry has been promoted to vice president, manufacturing and distribution. He joined the company as director, human resources, in 2018, and in 2021 became director, manufacturing and distribution. Prior to that, he served for about two years as general manager/project manager for ArcelorMittal USA. He holds an MBA from Virginia Tech, and an M.S. degree in industrial and organizational psychology and a B.S. degree in psychology from Radford University. Tanner Beckett will serve the wire and cable electrical distribution markets of Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and the Provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. He has more than six years of industry experience and holds a B.A. degree in geography from Marshall University. Hillary Rowe now represents accounts in the greater Houston metropolitan area. She has more than five years of sales experience in a variety of industrial markets. Based in Culloden, West Virginia, Service Wire is a family-owned wire and cable manufacturer.
Claes Westerlind was named CEO of NKT. He became part of the company in 2017 when NKT acquired ABB HV Cables in Sweden. Since 2019, he had served as executive vice president, Solutions Karlskrona, and was a member of the global leadership team. He was instrumental in the company’s achieving record orders for high-voltage cable as well as leading the investment and expansion programs in Karlskrona that were launched in 2020. He previously worked in various technical, sales and managerial roles at ABB (now Hitachi Energy) from 2006-2017. He replaces Alexander Kara who left the company for personal reasons. Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, NKT manufactures power cables and power cable accessories for the on- and offshore energy sector.
LaserLinc has two recent hires. Danielle Van Auken is the company’s newest buyer. She has more than 20 years of professional and managerial experience. Col Mogdlin has joined LaserLinc’s engineering department as a mechanical draftsman. Based in Fairborn, Ohio, LaserLinc is supplier of testing and measuring equipment.
Obituary
Larry Dean Fitzgerald, a long-time extrusion industry veteran, died May 9, 2023, after a short illness at age 78. The Connecticut resident passed on the first full day of Interwire 2023, a fitting departure as he had long been a fixture at industry trade shows. Known as “the godfather of wire & cable,” he had a gruff exterior that was paired with a willingness to share his expertise. He held decades of key sales and marketing posts prior to his retirement from Graham Engineering late last year. Past employers included Ramco Inc. (1970-76); Xaloy, Inc., (1976-80); Maillefer Co., (1980-85); Nokia, Inc., (1985-88); Bristol Corp/Electrical Systems Division, (1988-90); Davis Electric Co./Merritt Davis Corp., (1990-2000); Entwistle Co. (2000-02); Merritt Extruder Corp., (2002-05); Davis-Standard LLC, (2005-12); then American Kuhne/Graham Engineering, where he retired but kept active until early in January, when medical issues forced the end of his lengthy career. A WAI Life Member, he was a member of its New England Chapter since 2006. He held a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from The Ohio State University. He served with distinction in the military, including two tours in Vietnam. Survivors include a daughter, Alena Fitzgerald, and a son, Phillip Fitzgerald.
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (SEI) plans to establish a power cable factory in Scotland to serve the strong demand for power cable, an investment estimated to top £200 million and create 150 highly skilled green jobs.
A press release said that SEI has a proven track record of delivering power cables for offshore wind power projects around the world, including the U.K., Germany, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan’s first commercial offshore wind farms at Akita and Noshiro. Demand for more renewable energy and interconnected national and regional lines to achieve a decarbonized society has been especially strong in the European market. “In particular, the U.K. is expected to be one of the largest markets for power cables, as the country is planning a number of offshore wind power projects to achieve the Scottish government’s Net-zero 2045 and U.K.’s Net-zero 2050.”
SEI has seen a high degree of technical success with its high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cross-linked polyethylene-insulated (XLPE) submarine cable system. It was used for the U.K.-Belgium interconnector (NEMO Link) and successfully completed the installation. The 400 kV HVDC XLPE cable system is the industry’s highest voltage in commercial operation even today. This has led SEI to win multiple global contracts, including a project connecting the U.K. and Ireland (Greenlink Interconnector) and one in Germany (Corridor A-Nord).
A meeting was held May 18 in Tokyo between U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Sumitomo Electric Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Matsumoto and President & COO Osamu Inoue. “I am greatly honored to hear the strong expectations of Prime Minister Sunak and U.K. government regarding our power cable factory investment in the U.K.,” Inoue said.
“I am absolutely delighted that Sumitomo Electric will be coming to Scotland,” said Neil Gray, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy. This significant announcement demonstrates the strength of confidence investors have in our vision for a net zero economy ... and be invaluable to supporting Scotland’s rapidly expanding offshore wind sector.”
Malaysia’s Southern Cable Group Bhd reports that it has won a contract to supply underground cables and conductors to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), the nation’s utility giant. It also said that it wants to target the U.S. market.
Per an article in themalaysianreserve.com, the newest contract follows an addendum contract worth about US$7 million won by Southern Cable Sdn Bhd, its wholly owned subsidiary, secured in April 2023. To date, orders from TNB have been about $94 million. More than 80% of Southern Cable’s annual revenue typically comes from sales of power cables and wires. It notes that sales from January 2021 through 2022 saw annual compound growth of 27.8%.
Southern Cable, a registered supplier of wire and cable for TNB for the past 19 years, has a strong business relationship with the utility provider. It also supplies other utility providers such as Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd and Sarawak Energy Bhd. Its sales include power cables and wires, aluminum rods and supply and installation of rectifier systems for 5G networks.
Regarding the sales to the U.S., an article in another Malaysian publication, The Star, said the company is applying for U.L. certification for some new products it would like to market to the U.S.
TenneT, Netherland’s transmission system operator (TSO), has commissioned NKT, Nexans and a consortium of LS Cable, Jan De Nul and Denys to supply and lay some 7,000 km of power cable for offshore and onshore use that is valued at some €5.5 billion.
A press release said that TenneT, which serves as TSO for the Netherlands, and a significant part of Germany, owns and operates over 25,000 km of H-V lines and cables. It is now expanding that scope through 525 kV direct current cable systems for corresponding grid expansion projects. The company is completing the major tenders for grid connection systems that it started last year with this second framework agreement. These include 14 offshore connections, five of which had already been commissioned by the Dutch at the beginning of
2023, and one direct current project on land. The breakdowns for the orders are as follows.
NKT. The company will be responsible for connections for Nederwiek 3 in Geertruidenberg or Moerdijk, and Doordewind 1 and Doordewind 2, in Eemshaven. The order includes approximately 100 km of onshore cables as well as 300 km offshore cables divided into three onshore and two offshore sections to avoid cable laying in the submarine Capbreton Canyon. NKT will produce the power cables at the high-voltage factory in Karlskrona, Sweden, with expected commissioning of the full project by 2028.
Nexans. The company has received the order for the cable of the offshore projects BalWin3 and LanWin4 to be connected in Wilhelmshaven, as well as that of LanWin2, which leads to the Heide area in Schleswig-Holstein.
LS Cable consortium. The consortium of LS Cable, Jan De Nul, and Denys will be responsible for the other cable systems for the projects in Lower Saxony. These include BalWin4 and LanWin1, both of which are to be connected in the Unterweser area. The portfolio also includes LanWin5, which has its onshore network connection point in the Rastede area. The consortium has also been awarded the contract for the TenneT-side part of the 525 kV onshore DC project NordOstLink in Schleswig-Holstein. NordOstLink is a TenneT partner project with the transmission system operator 50Hertz.
The collective scope of the contracts includes cable design and engineering, production, delivery, project management and subsequent onshore and offshore laying of the 525 kV DC cables. Work will start in 2023, with onshore cable laying after 2025. At sea, cable-laying work is expected to begin in 2026. The offshore projects, each with a transmission capacity of 2 gigawatts, are expected to be operational by 2031 and NordOstLink by 2032.
TenneT COO Tim Meyerjürgens said that the project is an essential step for energy transition. “Together, with this award alone, we will implement around 7,000 km of DC cable for onshore and offshore grid connection systems in Germany and the Netherlands by 2032.” Each 2GW cable system will have a positive and negative conductor, a metallic return conductor and a fiber optic cable.
The Prysmian Group has received the notification from SSEN Transmission and National Grid Electricity Transmission plc, the GB electricity transmission network owners, selecting them as the exclusive preferred bidder for the Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2) cable connection.
A press release said that the Prysmian Group continues the contract negotiations with the aim of concluding the contract in a timely manner. Eastern Green Link 2 is a planned high voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine and underground cable link of around 500 km route length between Peterhead in Scotland and Drax in the North of England. With a power transmission capacity of 2 GW, it is expected to be one of the first cable systems in the U.K. to utilize 525 kV technology with extruded XLPE insulation.
EGL2 forms part of a series of planned system reinforcements required to increase the capability of the existing U.K. transmission network and facilitate renewable generation in the North to demand centers to the South, supporting the target of enabling 50 GW offshore wind generation by 2030 and achieving a Net Zero economy by 2050, the release said.
SSEN Transmission, operating under license held by Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission plc, owns, operates and develops the high-voltage electricity transmission system in the north of Scotland and remote islands. Its network includes 132 kV, 220 kV, 275 kV and 400 kV electricity transmission.
Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation announced that it has received “the golden License” to build the largest factory worldwide for the production of electric vehicles’ (EVs) wiring harness in Egypt with around $100 million in investment, according to a statement by General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI).
The project, announced last September, calls for the site to extend over an area of 150,000 square meters under the free zone system. It includes a raw material storage warehouse to be used as a distribution hub for North and Middle Africa. Production is set to be exported to global manufacturers of cars in Europe and the Middle East. During a recent meeting, GAFI
CEO Hossam Haiba and officials from Sumitomo discussed the company’s expansion plan in Egypt for coming period as well as the aspects of support provided by the Egyptian government to back the Japanese company’s investments.
NKT announced plans to build a new factory, including a third extrusion tower in Karlskrona, Sweden, and a new market-leading power cable vessel.
A press release said that the investments are driven by an increasing demand for high-voltage power cables, strong order intake and a record order backlog of more than €7 billion at the end of Q1 2023. Since March 2023, NKT has confirmed high-voltage contract awards and booking commitments of more than €5 billion. “To deliver on this significant order intake, prepare for the continued strong market outlook and execute the record high order backlog, NKT will invest around €1 billion in its high-voltage power cable business.”
The investments will include a new CLV with record power cable-laying capacity and a significant extension of the Swedish production site in Karlskrona. “Here, NKT will build a new factory including a third 200 m extrusion tower adding end-to-end production capacity next to the existing facility. This will turn the site into the world’s largest high-voltage offshore cable production site.”
Driven by the previous investment program, more than 300 new employees have joined the Karlskrona factory since 2020. Now, NKT expects to welcome more than 500 new employees at the Swedish site towards 2027 following the investments.
Citing the need for more high-voltage cable production and installation capability, NKT President and CEO Claes Westerlind said that the company will continue to grow “in line with our strategic ambitions and to continue developing our turnkey power cable offerings to our customers.”
NKT will invest about €1 billion from 2023 to 2026. The new assets cited above will be operational from 2027. The investment program continues the lead of prior actions. In 2020, NKT initiated an investment program in its high-voltage factories driven by a major backlog of business won for German corridor projects and a positive market outlook. A key part of the program was to add a second extrusion tower to the Swedish factory in Karlskrona which has been completed. Additional investments were announced in 2022 following the continued positive market development.
LS Cable & System (LS C&S) has completed what it described as Asia’s largest high-voltage direct current (HVDC) underwater cable production plant in Donghae, Gangwon Province, South Korea.
A press release said that the Donghae plant, named Submarine Building 4, is a 172-m-tall vertical continuous vulcanization (VCV) tower with a total floor area spanning 34,816 sq m. Approximately $141 million was spent since construction that started in July 2021.
Since building South Korea’s first submarine cable plant in 2008, LS C&S has made significant investments in its submarine business. The company also recently purchased stakes in KT Submarine, a submarine cable maker, becoming the largest shareholder (43.8%).
“The completion of this HVDC plant will serve as an accelerator for growth in the era of energy transition and the rise of the power industry,” said LS C&S CEO Koo Bon-gyu. “We will contribute to the advancement of the electric power industry through the construction of efficient energy networks and the enhancement of national competitiveness.”
Last December, LS C&S won a contract to supply HVDC cables to the Vanguard Wind Power Complex in the U.K., Korea’s largest cable deal signed to date in Europe.
More than 100 key persons—including LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-eun, LS Corp, CEO Myung Roe-hyun and LS C&S CEO Koo Bon-kyu —attended the completion ceremony.
Nexans announced that it has completed its acquisition of Reka Cables, a Finnish manufacturer of high-, medium- and low-voltage cables from Reka Industrial.
A press release said that the acquisition marks an additional milestone of Nexans’ ambition to become a pure electrification player committed to contribute to carbon neutrality by 2030, focusing on the overall value chain.
Reka Cables, headquartered in Hyvinkää, Finland, has been providing high-quality cables to customers in the energy, infrastructure, and building sectors for over 60 years. The company operates three manufacturing plants in Finland which will be complementing Nexans’ existing operations in Sweden and Norway. In 2022, Reka Cables reported current sales of €172 million and an EBITDA of €11 million.
Lars Josefsson, general manager BU Nordics, Nexans, lauded the acquisition. “Together we can do even more to solve the greatest challenge of our time, the climate transition, and accelerate electrification both here in the Nordic region and the rest of the world.”
Josefsson said that one of the sustainability goals of Nexans is that 95% of everything sold in the Nordic region be produced in the Nordic region by 2025. “By the integration of Reka, we reach 90% local production, and are well on our way to reaching the goal ahead of time.”
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