An epic Canadian project that took nearly four years of engineering, manufacturing, installation and testing has been completed, and Nexans reports that it has completed its contract to supply the longest submarine power cables in North America.

A press release said that the two 200 kV mass impregnated (MI) HVDC cables, each 170-km long and weighing approximately 5,500 tons, are part of the Maritime Link Project conducted by NSP Maritime Link Inc. (NSPML), an indirect subsidiary of Emera Inc. The 175 million euro contract also includes some 50 km of overland transmission cables in Nova Scotia and close to another 300 km cables of overland transmission on the island of Newfoundland. The cables were manufactured at Nexans’ factories in Halden, Norway, and in Futtsu, Japan.

Nexans installed the submarine cables in the Cabot Strait to a depth of approximately 470 meters, protecting them on the seabed and electrically interconnecting the provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador for the first time. The final high-voltage tests were successfully conducted on the link in September 2017.

“We are thrilled to be part of this exciting project and we are happy to have completed the installation of these two submarine cables, the longest in Northern America, after almost 600,000 hours of designing, manufacturing and laying works,” said Nexans Project Manager Geir Korstad. “This success is undoubtedly the result of hard work and dedication of our highly-competent Nexans teams as well as the seamless cooperation with NSPML and our partners.”

The release described the Maritime Link Project as a new 500 MW (+/- 200 kV) HVDC interconnection that consists of converter stations and associated high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) switchyards as well as two HVDC transmission lines, a 230 kV HVAC transmission line, and associated infrastructure. The Maritime Link Project began in 2011. The project, it said, is part of efforts for Canada, which gets two-thirds of its electricity from renewable resources, to reduce its coal emissions by 50% by 2030. It will also enable Nova Scotia to meet regulations requiring 40% renewable energy by 2020.

TE SubCom and the Samoa Submarine Cable Company (SSCC) announced that a new submarine cable depot will be built in the Port of Apia, Samoa to service and maintain more than 20 cable systems in the South Pacific region.

In 2017, TE SubCom was awarded the South Pacific Marine Maintenance Agreement (SPMMA), a five-year service agreement between it and 15 cable operators in the region, a press release said. The new depot, to be owned by TE SubCom, will help the company “support and maintain the more than 51,000 km of telecom and power cable systems in the area, as well as support regional installation activities. The SPMMA area covers the South Pacific region from Singapore in the west to Tahiti in the east and from the southernmost point of New Zealand to Hawaii in the north.

The Prysmian Group announced that it has been awarded a contract worth approximately €40 million for a new submarine cable connection between the isle of Capri and Sorrento (Naples) from an Italian transmission system operator.

A press release said that the contract, from Rete Italia SpA, a business of Terna SpA, calls for the turn-key installation of an HVAC 150 kV power cable link between the power stations located in Sorrento and on Capri’s Gasto ecological island, following a 16-km submarine and 3-km land route. The Capri-Sorrento cables will be manufactured at Prysmian’s plant in Arco Felice (Naples), with cable laying done by the Prysmian vessel, "Cable Enterprise." Prysmian will provide all the related network components and required specialist civil engineering works.

The project, which is scheduled for completion in 2019, follows a prior related contract from Terna, the release said. In 2013, Prysmian was chosen to be cable supplier for the Capri-Torre Annunziata project, a HVAC 150 kV submarine cable connection between Capri and the mainland that was approximately 31 km in length.

"It is a source of great satisfaction and pride to be involved in the creation of infrastructure of such strategic importance and prestige for Italy," said Massimo Battaini, senior vice president of energy projects for the Prysmian Group. The second power link will complete the Capri connection ring, increasing the efficiency and reliability of the island’s power system.

The Prysmian Group notes that it has completed a number of important infrastructure projects in the Mediterranean Basin, such as the SA.PE.I. connections (Sardinia-Italian mainland), Sorgente-Rizziconi (Sicily-Calabria), and Capri-Torre Annunziata in Italy; Spain-Morocco, Iberian Peninsula-Mallorca, Mallorca-Ibiza in Spain; and the recently completed longest connection of the Cyclades submarine ring in Greece.

Brazil’s Gerdau S.A. has agreed to sell Optimus Steel LLC its wire rod mill in Texas, and two downstream facilities, for $92.50 million.

A press release said that the deal will include Gerdau’s wire rod mill in Beaumont. The mill has a melt shop capacity of approximately 700,000 tons, and is capable of producing both wire rod and coiled rebar. The sale also includes two downstream facilities: Beaumont Wire Products and Carrollton Wire Products. Beaumont Wire Products. The former was described as a wire mesh mill and the latter as a supplier of industrial wire into the greater U.S. southern region.

The news follow a previous announcement by Gerdau of the sale of four rebar mills and nearly three dozen downstream facilities to Commercial Metals Company for US$600 million. Once the two separate deals close, Gerdau, which was part of a recent trade case seeking to limit the in-flow of low-cost imported wire rod, will be out of that sector.

Gerdau Chief Executive Gustavo Werneck said that the company will “focus on more value-added products.” It will continue to have a considerable presence in North America, with 18 facilities, 15 in the U.S. and three in Canada that produce merchant steel, structural steel and some rebar.