Manner Polymers announced that it is investing $54 million to open a new manufacturing facility in Mount Vernon, Illinois, that will be powered by solar energy generated on-site and create 60 new jobs.

A press release said that the facility has been designed to provide the highest levels of product consistency coupled with low cost and unparalleled supply reliability, powered by a 15-acre solar field located on site. Production is expected to commence in the fall of 2025. Once in full operation, the new plant will increase the company’s production capacity by 100 million pounds, further strengthening its domestic supply chain.

“Not only will we incorporate best in class manufacturing technology, but we will also produce substantially all of the electricity that we use,” said Manner Polymers CEO Raj Bhargava. “Our objective is to build the lowest-cost, highest-quality, most environmentally sustainable flexible PVC compounding plant in the world. This will be a transformational plant. It will have industry-leading capabilities coupled with a clean energy footprint.”

Among those who attended the announcement was Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who lauded the decision. “I couldn’t be prouder that Manner Polymers has selected Illinois for their state-of-the-art 80,000 square foot, 100% solar-powered facility.”

Manner Polymers selected Illinois to locate its solar-powered facility after considering locations in Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Manner Polymers, based in McKinney, Texas, notes that the company has increased its footprint to become one of the largest flexible PVC compounders in North America since its inception in California more than 60 years ago. The business manufactures custom, specialty and commodity compounds to support customers in a broad range of markets, including building and construction, industrial and commercial, automotive and transportation, consumer products, appliance and electric, agriculture, telecommunications and medical.

As part of its ongoing modernization efforts, Southwire announced an expansion at its campus in Florence, Alabama, that is designed to increase production capacity at the plant it acquired from Essex in 2006.

A press release said that the existing 300,000-sq-ft plant, which produces commercial and residential building wire, will more than double in size. The expansion plans call for some 340,000 sq feet of added space for new equipment and the creation of approximately 120 jobs. Construction is expected to begin this quarter and should be completed in 2025.
The investments and upgrades will effectively streamline Southwire’s commercial and residential building wire efforts, complement existing products and emphasize the facility’s culture and labor pool. The project will also include renovating the existing building to enhance the team member experience, including locker rooms, training space and an outdoor picnic and activity area.

“Southwire is committed to remain generationally sustainable for the next 100 years and beyond and be an employer of choice, and we look forward to the growth opportunities that this expansion will bring to our company,” said Norman Adkins, president of wire and cable and COO.

“At Southwire, we’re making a multi-year investment of more than a billion dollars to integrate newer and better equipment, systems and technology into our operations to increase efficiency, enhance competitiveness and ensure the operational capability and capacity to support our strategic growth,” said Rich Stinson, Southwire’s president and CEO. “The Florence expansion is a testament to those efforts.”

South Korea’s LS Cable & System (LS C&S) reported that it has signed an agreement to supply high-voltage submarine cable to Ørsted for renewable energy projects in Taiwan, where it notes that it has done extremely well.

A press release said that LS C&S will supply the cable for Denmark’s Ørsted—which it has partnered successfully with—for use in its Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind projects in Taiwan. Located 35 to 60 km from the Changhua coast in western Taiwan, it will be among the largest offshore wind farms in the Asia-Pacific region when it is completed at the end of 2025, able to generate 920 MW of renewable energy.

With the latest order, LS C&S has supplier rights for all eight projects of the Taiwan’s Phase 1 Offshore Windfarm Construction Projects. The accumulated amount of orders since 2019 are worth approximately 1 trillion won (about $776 million).

Taiwan is planning to complete the construction of offshore wind farms with total output of 5.5 GW through the first phase of the project by 2025 and will build additional offshore wind farms for an additional output of 15 GW by 2035. “We expect additional orders to be placed from Taiwan and estimate that the submarine cable market will be worth around 3 trillion won (about $2.328 billion),” an LS C&S spokesperson said.

The release said that LS C&S expects to see further positive results from its relationship with South Korea’s KT Submarine. Last December, LS C&S paid about $19.3 million to acquire 16% of the share of KT Submarine, an underwater construction firm that provides installation and repair services for submarine cable.

LS C&S notes it also has a call option that it can exercise that would enable it to be the largest shareholder in the company. Further, there are only about five companies in the world capable of both submarine cable manufacturing and construction, and LS C&S is the only company in Korea to be capable of such services.

As part of $73 million in investments, Superior Essex Communications plans to expand its plant in Brownwood, Texas, by 90,000 sq ft to help meet strong global demand for OSP fiber optic cables, drop fiber and hybrid cables.

A press release said that the additional space will expand the site to more than 500,000 total sq ft of production space. The initiative is expected to create 170 new jobs, and some existing positions will be switched from manufacturing legacy OSP copper cable to optical fiber cables.

The investment will include manufacturing equipment and incorporate green building practices—such as Power over Ethernet (PoE) lighting and the use of repurposed equipment—and explore the use of solar and battery power sources for the plant.

“The Brownwood plant improvements are not only an investment in our company, but also an investment in U.S. manufacturing and in communities across America,” said Superior Essex Communications President Brad Johnson. “This expansion will create manufacturing jobs right here in America, which will bring more employment opportunities to the Brownwood
region and boost production of American-made broadband products.”

Superior Essex Communications is focused on creating the future of smart and sustainable communications by developing technology that connects and respects the world, can be deployed to support Government initiatives supported by the company to increase U.S. high-speed internet access for all Americans.

JDR Cable Systems (JDR), part of the TFK Group, has won a contract to supply, test and terminate the 66 kV dynamic inter-array cables (IAC) for independent renewable energy producer Qair’s floating offshore wind Eolmed pre-commercial 30 MW project.

A press release said that the Eolmed project is located in the south of France, 18 km off the coast of Gruissan and Port-La Nouvelle in the Occitanie region. It will connect the wind project to the French Electricity Transmission Network (RTE), providing approximately 100 million kWh per year of power. The site will have three wind turbines anchored to the seabed in a water depth of some 60 meters.

JDR will manufacture the 66 kV dynamic cables at TFK’s Bydgoszcz plant in Poland, with final assembly and testing at JDR’s U.K. plant in Hartlepool. The cabling is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2024.

JDR Sales Director John Price noted that the company recently worked on Eoliennes Flottantes du Golfe du Lion’s floating wind project. That experience is helpful as projects continue to involve deeper water depths that require more complete planning analysis.

The contract stems from France’s aim to have 40 GW of offshore wind capacity in operation by 2050. The release said there are some 50 projects to meet that goal, and that Qair was preselected for four of the first eight tenders.