Italy’s Danieli has provided a tailor-made roughing mill featuring shiftable stands for a Nippon Steel plant in Kamaishi, Japan.

Per a Danieli press release, the new mill can provide twist-free rolling of 130- to 168-mm billets at 130 tph. The installation of the shiftable roughing mill, in a narrow space, increased billet charging flexibility and efficiency. Production of the billets will be used to produce wire rod at the same facility.

The Kamaishi mill produces special steel wire rod in mild and hard steel wire, low-alloy steel, spring steel, special melt wire and bearing steel grades. The main equipment supplied includes two mono-groove vertical and horizontal housingless stands. Both stands are individually shiftable by an electric actuator to feed alternately each line of the three-strand wire rod mill with 122-mm-square bars, in diamond configuration as per original feeder.

Roll cartridges are automatically extracted to the nearby roll shop, where a compact Danieli roll-changing robot and an electric roll tilter operate. A dedicated, three-strand pinch roll, spare cartridge units, special steel grooved rolls, and roller guides completed the project supply.

Danieli previously supplied Nippon Steel with several advanced technologies and systems for long products.

LS Cable & System (LS Cable) has completed a high-voltage direct current transmission (HVDC) submarine cable project on a volcanic island in South Korea.

Per the company, the Wando-Jeju project was an undersea power grid of about 90 km that connects Wando, Jeollanam-do and the island of Jeju. The project, worth $160 million, is the largest LS Cable submarine cable project since the Jeju 2-linked contract in 2009.

The project was the first in the country to use voltage-type HVDC technology, which allows for real-time control of the direction of electricity supply and quick restoration of electricity during system failures, the release said. The submarine cables allow electricity to be supplied in a more stable manner by increasing the amount of electricity that is available between Jeju and the inland.

The company notes that only some companies in Europe and Japan have commercialized HVDC submarine cables worldwide, and LS Cable is the only one in South Korea. “The completion of the three-connection in Jeju is the achievement of Team Korea, which has been achieved through cooperation between domestic companies such as LS Cable, LS Marine Solution, and construction companies, centering on KEPCO,” said Kim Hyung-won, head of LS Cable & System’s energy and construction business division.

The Prysmian Group has dropped its plans to build a subsea power cable plant in Brayton Point in Somerset, Massachusetts, a turn of events that was widely seen as being linked to the election of President Donald Trump.

Multiple reports in local media said that the Prysmian Group—which spent more than two years getting the necessary permits—issued a statement two days before Trump took office on January 20. “Prysmian is continuously evaluating market opportunities for our capacity to be aligned with demand ... and to also carry out efficient and timely investments,” said its statement, which did not mention Trump. “As a result ... Prysmian has decided to not proceed with the purchase of the land in Somerset.”

In 2022, President Joe Biden appeared at the site of the former coal plant to deliver a speech about the dangers of climate change and the benefits of clean energy like offshore wind.

Prysmian’s plan to invest $300 million in the Brayton Point factory would enable manufacturing submarine inter-array and export cables up to 275 kV AC or 525 kV DC to connect offshore wind farms to mainland power grids. A Prysmian press release said the production “would be used to deliver power from several new offshore wind farms that are vital to President Biden’s goal of installing 30 GW in offshore wind power by 2030.”

President Trump was cited by many as the cause for the reversal. Massachusetts Congressman Jake Auchincloss described the news as disappointing and discouraging. “Donald Trump has unraveled that promise of good jobs by threatening a moratorium on offshore wind, generating so much uncertainty that companies pull back investment.”

In his first day in office, President Trump—who has long opposed clean energy and EV subsidies—signed an executive order temporarily halting offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and pausing issuance of approvals, permits and loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects.

 Leoni AG has opened a plant for producing wiring systems for the truck, powertrain and off-road segment in Agadir, Morocco, a location chosen due to its proximity to plants of commercial vehicle manufacturers.

A press release said that the €20 million investment underlines both the automotive supplier’s ambitions in the global growth market for commercial vehicles and the importance of Morocco as a location for the automotive industry. The initiative is expected to result in more than 3,000 jobs being created.

“It is our clear goal to grow faster than the market in the commercial vehicle segment in the coming years,” said Leoni AG COO Ingo Spengler. He noted that Leoni is one of the few automotive suppliers worldwide that develops and manufactures vehicle cables and wiring systems for passenger cars as well as commercial and off-road vehicles. The business understands the “nervous system of the automobile,” and the Agadir opening will strengthen Leoni’s competitiveness in commercial vehicles segment.

The Agadir plant will produce wiring systems in comparatively small batch sizes with a high level of complexity, using energy-efficient technologies installed to keep the plant’s CO2 footprint at minimum level. “Moreover, Agadir is a flagship project for smart, digital and increasingly automated processes, showcasing best practices and setting benchmarks for operational excellence across the company’s global production network,” says Leoni COO Ingo Spengler.