Aurora Material Solutions, LLC (Aurora), a manufacturer of polymer compounds that expanded in March with the acquisition of EnCom Polymers, reports that it has completed the expansion of its plant in Streetsboro, Ohio.

A press release said that the facility expansion “adds over 140 million pounds of compounding capacity, creates new jobs, and supports Aurora’s continued growth with customer partners.” The facility is the company’s largest and hosts its rigid PVC technical center.

“The expansion is an example of our company’s mission to be our customers’ first choice in polymer solutions,” said Aurora CEO Darrell Hughes. “The expansion will help us continue to grow and win with our customers while further enhancing our unparalleled quality and lead times.”

In other news, earlier this year, Aurora announced the launch of AuroraEcoplast™ and a number of recycled and other sustainable material solutions. The company notes that it has achieved +Vantage Vinyl Gold compliance, an industry-wide sustainability designation created by the Vinyl Sustainability Council. It was audited by the third-party GreenCircle, which certified companies across the entire U.S. vinyl value chain.

In March, the company changed its name from Aurora Plastics to Aurora Material Solutions, a name change was said to have been to reflects the company’s commitment to expanding its scope and embracing a broader range of materials and solutions.

Ducab Metals Business (DMB), a subsidiary of the Ducab Group, plans to increase its annual production capacity for aluminum as well as bare copper product capacity in response to what it said was surging global demand for the UAE-manufactured products.

A press release said that the company recently added 51,015 sq m to its existing facility in Kezad. It plans to increase production for aluminum from 55,000 to 110,000 metric tons per year. It also plans to increase its bare copper product capacity in the initiative to elevate the ‘Made in the Emirates’ brand and boost the company’s global competitiveness. The announcement was made at the
Ducab Metals Business Expansion Forum, held in partnership with Middle East Economic Digest (MEED). At the forum, DMB also presented its advancements in developing green aluminum.

Hildebrandt chose ecologically sustainable concepts for the planning of the construction project. The future energy requirements will be completely covered by biomass, generated from its own production waste. “By doing this, we are reducing our ecological footprint significantly,” said Hildebrandt Partner Matthias Lohraff.” A concise strategy for sustainability is a core element of the company strategy of August Hildebrandt Group.

The UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) announced that it will provide approximately $22.3 million to HVDC subsea cable manufacturer XLCC toward building a factory in Hunterston, Scotland.

A press release said that the agreement also includes an option for as much as triple the initial funding. “The bank’s financing will help XLCC develop its factory in Hunterson, which when complete will have the capacity to produce thousands of km each year.”

The Hunterson plant is expected to create some 900 permanent jobs as well as many apprenticeships. “The (project will bring) significant investment to the U.K., creating highly skilled jobs in advanced manufacturing and project management for decades to come,” said XLCC CEO Ian Douglas. XLCC has already raised some $45 million for the project.

U.S.-based Kato Cable is expanding its production plant in Mankato, Minnesota, as it continues its growth story.

Per its website, the company, founded in 2006 by Eric Else, the chairman and CEO, started by manufacturing harnesses for the power generation space. Its current product range includes harnesses and assemblies for multiple applications, including medical, marine, industrial, motorcycle, harnesses and assemblies, agriculture, oil and gas and more.

The company’s plant, located on 12 acres, was built in 2006 and expanded in 2015. Per a report in the Mankato Free Press, the company plans to increase its work force from 135 to more than 200 within three to five years of completion. The expansion will add 40,000 sq ft. to the Power Drive campus. In 2021 the company had acquired space in an existing facility in North Mankato, but more space was needed.

Of note, the article included details about how one of its products had an impact for one employee. Engineering manager Matt Lukasek had heart surgery that was aided by a medical robot that relies on some of the company’s cables. “The products we make right here in Mankato are changing lives, and to have it change another person’s life, that’s a big deal,” Lukasek said. “To have it change your own life? It’s hard to put that into words what that feels like. It’s pretty crazy.”

Nexans announced that it has signed a contract for the Orkney Transmission Link, for which it last year reserved capacity, and that it plans to expand a plant in France.

A press release said that Nexans finalized the contract for the Orkney Transmission Link that will exchange up to 220 MW of energy between the Orkney Islands and the UK mainland. It will have one high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) that requires about 53 km of subsea cable and 15 km of land cable for the route from Finstown in Orkney to Dounreay in Caithness.

The contract includes both the production and the installation of the cable. The 220 kV high voltage alternating current (HVAC) cable will be the largest capacity cable connecting the Orkney Islands to mainland Scotland and will span 53 km offshore and 16 km onshore routes in total in Finstown, Orkney and Dounreay in Caithness, U.K.

The interconnector will be manufactured at Nexans’ plants in Halden, Norway, for the offshore sections, and Charleroi, Belgium, for the onshore cable sections. Nexans will also install the cable. The project will be delivered in 2027.

The company also reported that it plans to spend €15 million to expand the medium-voltage cable production capacity of an existing plant in east-central France with two new production lines and an overall upgrade of the entire manufacturing flow.

A press release said that the expansion will take place at the facility in Bourg-en-Bresse in the region of Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, over a period through 2026. It is needed to meet the growing demand in the energy sector.

Plans call for the installation of a new stranding machine that can produce new, larger aluminum cable sections, including sizes up to 400 sq mm. The plant will also get a new cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) triple extruder. The new equipment is expected be up and running in the first half of 2026. Other upgrades will be made to the sheathing and assembly lines to strengthen production of the company’s EDRMAX reinforced direct-buried cables.

An Iraqi minister reports that an agreement has been reached that will bolster the country’s communication capabilities.

Per a report in Iraq Business News, Iraq’s Minister of Communications, Dr. Hayam Al-Yasiri, announced an agreement with Qatar’s Ooredoo Group to lay undersea cables with a capacity of 500 terabits at the Al-Faw station.

The 24-pair cables will significantly boost Iraq’s international communication capacity by connecting to over 200 global undersea cables, from Oman through the Gulf and Al-Faw, extending to Europe. Al-Yasiri said the project will enhance Iraq’s geographic positioning as a key hub for international data traffic, and also serves as an alternative to the Suez Canal and is attractive to global investors. Ooredoo is the parent company of Iraqi mobile phone service Asiacell.

Taihan Cable & Solution Co. (Taihan Cable) held a completion ceremony on Sept. 9 at its new optical fiber plant, Taihan Kuwait, located in the Mina Abdullah Industrial Area, southeast of Kuwait City.

Per a report in Yonhap, the factory spans 5,000 sq m, with production facilities and testing equipment identical to those at Taihan’s Dangjin cable factory. The Kuwait plant will help Taihan Cable expand into the Middle East market. The project was done through a partnership with a local builder, Rank General Trading and Contracting Co.

Taihan Kuwait was scheduled to start full-scale production of certified production in September. With the addition of the Kuwaiti plant, Taihan Cable has seven production facilities, the others include three in South Korea, one in Saudi Arabia, one in South Africa and one in Vietnam. The ceremony included speeches, a report on the establishment of the corporation and a tour of the factory.

The article said that Taihan Cable aims to dominate the Kuwaiti optical cable market, which has relied entirely on imports. Demand for optical cables is expected to rapidly grow in line with the launch of “New Kuwait 2035,” a mid-to-long-term national development plan. “Taihan plans to secure the Kuwaiti market and expand into neighboring GCC countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, leveraging its network which has been supplying cables throughout the Middle East for over 50 years.”

“Establishing production infrastructure in Kuwait, following our Dangjin cable factory, will allow us to respond actively to the growing global demand for optical fiber cables,” said Taihan Cable Vice Chairman Song Jong Min. “We will continue to enhance national competitiveness by expanding global operations through continuous localization of production.”

AT&T has agreed to remove some six miles of lead cables that have been submerged in Lake Tahoe for decades, per a settlement agreement.

Per multiple news reports, AT&T will remove approximately 107,000 pounds of unused cables in the agreement with the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), which in a 2021 lawsuit claimed that lead from the cables was contaminating multiple areas of the lake and creating a widespread risk of exposure. Elevated levels of lead were confirmed in both the water and sediment around the cables, according to the lawsuit. Lake Tahoe, a freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada, straddles the border between California and Nevada.

CSPA said that the paper-wrapped copper wire cables are composed of spiral-wound steel rods and coated with a fiber layer impregnated with bitumen tar. Each foot of these cables has about 3.39 pounds of lead, and there are about six miles of submerged cables. A study by scientists hired by the CSPA’s attorneys found that biofilms (algae) that are a food source for fish had lead concentrations 67,000 times higher in samples taken from the cables compared to those taken from a rock.

AT&T maintained that multiple expert analyses found that the telecom cables in the lake pose no threat to public health or the environment. “While we’re confident in the strength of our case and the safety of the cables, this settlement represents an amicable resolution to litigation.”

The cables were discovered 12 years ago by divers on the sandy bottom of the lake by the Pacific Bell Telephone Company a century ago. Three years ago, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), a nonprofit advocacy group, sued AT&T to have them removed after their discovery.

Poland’s Herco Sp. z o.o. (Herco), has started to expand its plant, an initiative that it reported was made possible through co-financing from the European Union.

Per a statement and details at the company’s website, Herco reports that the company produces its nails at its factory in Cieladz, using modern nail headers. The company was founded as a cement mixer in Lowicz, Poland, in 1993, and two years later a new production site was bought in Rawa Mazowiecka, a small town 70 km from Warsaw. In 1999, it bought its first nail machines and two years later it bought equipment from Enkotec, whose models now make more than 80% of its nails.

In 2009 Herco invested in building a new and energy efficient factory. In 2010, the company moved to the new production unit in Cieladz, 10 km from the old location in Rawa Mazowiecka. That allowed Herco to increase the efficiency and the quality of its products, while reducing the environmental impact. In 2014, its state-of-the-art, hot-dip galvanizing line for small parts and case nails, started operations. Now, it is making a further investment, this time by the European Funds for Modern Economy program, using the SMART Path action to further its R&D innovations.

NKT will deliver 545 km of onshore power cables to transmission system operator Elia Transmission Belgium (ETB) for a major grid upgrade.

A press release said that the order for the cable will strengthen Belgium’s transmission grid, and was received under an existing framework agreement between NKT and ETB., which manages the high-voltage transmission grid that has some 9,000 km of overhead lines and underground cables. The latest order is related to a prior order of 72 km of 380 kV AC onshore power cables recently awarded under the same agreement.

“This is one of the largest orders in the segment 70 kV and 150 kV AC onshore NKT has ever received and shows the importance of the lower high-voltage levels in the transmission grid,” said Lukas Sidler, EVP, HV Solutions Cologne. The cables will be produced at NKT’s Cologne, Germany, and Velke Meziříčí, Czech Republic, factories, with delivery and installation planned from 2025-2027.

In Belgium, electricity consumption is expected to rise by 50% by 2032 while renewable energy sources are adding more power to the system. In 2023, Belgium generated a record-breaking 21.5 TWh (a 23% increase compared with 2022) from wind and solar generation, making up 28% of the country’s electricity mix.

In other news, NKT reported that it is expanding its operations in Alingsås, Sweden, to boost the production capacity of high-voltage accessories. The company is currently constructing a new hall in Alingsås for testing power cable accessories up to 525 kV that is needed to meet what the company described as the growing demand driven by the transition to renewable energy. Besides boosting the production capacity of high-voltage accessories, with the new hall NKT is seeking to enhance its research and development efforts.

“With our new high-voltage test facility, we’re meeting NKT’s strong growth in the global market. This investment in Alingsås enables us to support the renewable transition by supplying complete power cable systems for on- and offshore wind parks and interconnectors,” said John Sjöström, Head of Operations at NKT in Alingsås.