1/3/2022 – The GFG Alliance reports that it plans to re-open its LIBERTY Steel Georgetown (LSG) rod mill in Georgetown, South Carolina.
A press release initially said that the reopening was expected to happen in mid-January. LGS will integrate operations with LIBERTY’s plant in Peoria, Illinois, to meet a strong order book and clear a customer backlog. Billet will be manufactured in Peoria, taking advantage of the plant’s additional melt capacity, then delivered to Georgetown for conversion into 10,000 metric tons of finished rod a month. LGS has also implemented efficiencies such as utility cost savings, rental equipment returns and contractor reductions to improve profitability and develop a sustainable long-term plan for the plant.
The rod mill has had a storied history. Founded in 1969 by German industrialist Willy Korf, it at one time had as many as 1,500 employees. It had multiple owners, including the government of Kuwait in 1984 and the International Steel Group in 2004. It was bought in 2005 by Lakshmi Mittal. The mill closed in 2009, and following the Mittal merger with Arcelor, it was reopened by Arcelor Mittal in 2011, only to be closed in May 2015. The Liberty House Group, part of the GFG Alliance, purchased ArcelorMittal’s Georgetown steelworks in 2017.
The news was part of a larger update by the GFG Alliance, which included restructuring and refinancing progress for all its operations. LIBERTY Steel Group’s Restructuring and Transformation Committee (RTC) was formed in May 2021. Chief Restructuring Officer Jeffrey Stein said that the restart of the Georgetown plant reflects “further evidence of healthy market conditions and strong infrastructure spending across much of the globe.”
Industry News
1/3/2022: The Prysmian Group announced that it has won two milestone offshore wind farm projects in the U.S. worth nearly $900 million, and that—pending final okays—it will build a U.S. power cable plant to manufacture some of the submarine power cable.
A press release said that Vineyard Wind, a 1,200 MW wind farm project, is a joint venture between Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. The contract, worth about $300 million, is for cabling to connect the 804 MW Park City offshore wind farm to the electricity grid in the state of Connecticut. Prysmian will deploy HVAC 275 kV three-core cables with XLPE insulation and single wire armoring. The cables will be produced by Prysmian’s plants in Arco Felice, Italy, and Pikkala, Finland, and installed by the Leonardo da Vinci and Ulisse vessels. Delivery and commissioning are scheduled for 2026.
The 1,200 MW Commonwealth Wind (CW) cable project is worth around $580 million. Prysmian will design, supply, install, and commission as many as three export submarine power cable links to connect CW to the electricity grid in Massachusetts. Prysmian will supply HVAC 275 kV three-core cables with XLPE insulation and single-wire armoring.
Prysmian intends to build a manufacturing facility for submarine transmission cables at Brayton Point, the site of a former coal-fired power plant in Somerset. The CW project agreement is subject to conditions, such as permits and arrangements with the property owner as well as Prysmian."
The CW submarine cables are planned to be produced in the new plant in Massachusetts, as well as at Prysmian plants in Arco Felice and Pikkala. Delivery and commissioning of the export cables are scheduled for 2027. Both cable supply awards are subject to the finalization of Prysmian Group plans to localize its footprint.
Per Common Wealth Magazine, Avangrid Renewables encouraged Prysmian to open a facility in Massachusetts by promising to use it as the supplier for both of the projects. Such a plant would provide some 200 jobs.
The news “confirms the validity of Prysmian’s growth ambition in the fast-developing offshore wind farm industry in the U.S.,” the release said. “Prysmian is also excited to announce significant progress towards its first submarine power cables manufacturing facility in the U.S.” said Prysmian Group Executive President Hakan Ozmen. “While we still have work to do ... it is clear that, with the support of the state of Massachusetts and others, we are in a great position to reach a final agreement that will prompt a major expansion of our company.”
The release said the new projects “are important additions to (Prysmian’s) growing submarine cable and HVDC system portfolio in North America.” The Group’s track record includes interconnections projects like the SOO Green HVDC link, Neptune, TransBay and Hudson River, as well as the Empire Wind interarray projects.
1/3/22 – Leoni will officially close its plant in Chicopee, Massachusetts—the German cable maker’s first wire plant in the U.S., by Feb. 4, resulting in the loss of some 80 jobs.
A press release said that the company tried to but could not find a buyer for the plant, which opened in October 1991. “Unfortunately, despite intensive conversations with several potential investors, it was not possible to find a long-term continuation perspective for LWI, both strategically and financially.” The result is that the plant, which produces cables, ropes and braids for the aerospace, data communications and other industries, will be closed.
A company spokesman said that the operation was not part of the company’s previously announced plans. “As is well known, Leoni AG wants to strategically focus on consolidating its leading position as a supplier of wiring systems for the automotive industry. Against this backdrop, the company has already sold several non-automotive units in 2021.” Last November, WJI reported that Leoni AG had sold the majority of its Wire & Cable Solutions division to strategic investor BizLink Holding Inc. At the time, Leoni AG CEO Aldo Kamper said that the move had to be made. “With this step, we are once again proving that we are consistently continuing to implement our announced and already advanced focus on the Wiring System Division.”
12/6/21 – NKT plans to extend its presence in Poland with a local execution hub that will prepare it for the market opportunities driven by the country’s green transformation in Poland.
A press release said that NKT is now expanding its local presence with an execution center to prepare for a growing demand for both on- and offshore power cables. The center will be located in Gdynia, Poland, close to the Baltic Sea where several offshore wind farms are expected to be located.
The execution center is not a production site but a hub from where a company can execute local projects, both onshore and offshore. “The idea is to first hire cable jointers for installation projects where they are connecting the produced cable lengths. At a later stage, the plan is to hire more project-oriented people to drive offshore wind projects, so the center development is linked to future projects we win in Poland,” a company spokesman said.
NKT expects to hire the first power cable jointers by the end of 2021 and will hire additional people to the execution center as the potential market opportunities emerge with the first offshore wind projects materializing in the coming years. With two existing manufacturing sites in Poland specializing in building wires, low-voltage power cables and PVC compounds, NKT is also well-positioned to meet the growing demand for power cables driven by the expected reinforcement of the Polish power grid.
“We already have a strong footprint in Poland, and it is natural for us to take steps to strengthen our position in the country with the new execution hub,” said NKT CEO Alexander Kara. He noted that NKT is preparing to support Poland’s national ambition to install up to 11 GW of offshore wind capacity in the Baltic Sea by 2040.
12/6/21 – LS Cable & System (LS C&S) announced that it has entered into an MOU for cooperation in the domestic offshore wind power business with Northland Power, a Canadian new and renewable energy developer.
A press release said that in the MOU, the two companies agree to their roles for offshore wind power generation business, agreeing to cooperate in related EPC (design, procurement and construction). Canadian-based Northland Power builds and operates new and renewable energy infrastructure such as wind power and photovoltaics. Founded in 1987, it is seeking to advance into Asian countries such as Taiwan and Japan. LS C&S was a priority supplier of submarine cables for Northland Power’s 1GW Hai Long Wind Farm Project in Taiwan.
As Northland Power is expanding its business in Korea, e.g., the 1.3 GW Dado Ocean Wind Power Project in Jeollanam-do, LS C&S expects to see its sales grow. “With this MOU, we will comply with the government’s new and renewable energy policy and contribute to job creation,” LS C&S President & CEO Roe-Hyun Myung said.
LS C&S also announced that the company signed an agreement on an “industry-finance cooperation program for the promotion of the submarine cable industry” with Korea Development Bank (KDB). LS C&S will receive funds from KDB totaling KRW 1 trillion over the next five years. The money will be used for its environmentally friendly business, such as submarine cables.
“LS Cable & System is investing huge amounts of money in the submarine cable industry in line with the government’s carbon neutral policy,” said the company.
12/6/21 – The Prysmian Group partnered up to win a U.S. submarine cable contract from Dominion Energy Virginia that represents both a major step forward for the U.S. offshore wind farm sector, and the first time that such a project has been awarded as a complete package known as a “Balance of Plant” (BoP) contract.
A press release said that to fill the cable order for Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW)—a 2.6-gigawatt wind farm that will deploy 176 wind turbines that are taller than 800 feet—Prysmian teamed up with the DEME Group, a leader in the offshore wind industry. The DEME Group will provide everything beyond the approximately 880 km of cable that is part of the BoP contract. That includes the transportation and installation of the foundations and the substations and the EPCI (Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation) services for the inter-array and export cables for the future largest commercial offshore windfarm in the United States.
The total value of the contract is approximately €1.6 billion, of which around €630 million is related to Prysmian for the cable supply and the installation works under its responsibility. Prysmian Group will provide three 3-core 220 kV HVAC export cables measuring approximately 62 km each, with XLPE insulation and single-wire armoring, for a total of approximately 560 km. The company will also supply 320 km of 3-core 66kV offshore inter-array cables with XLPE insulation.
The export cables will be produced in Arco Felice, Italy, and Pikkala, Finland, while the inter-array cables will be manufactured in Nordenham, Germany. The project is expected to be completed by 2026.
“Following the award of the Vineyard submarine offshore project and the SOO Green HVDC link, the Dominion Energy project represents a further confirmation of our major role in helping our customers meet their goals,” said Prysmian Group CEO Valerio Battista. He noted that the U.S. is important to Prysmian’s growth strategy, and the Biden administration’s commitment to development of infrastructure “is something really positive.”
“Dominion Energy decided to award the contract to the Prysmian-DEME consortium in light of their unique combination of financial strength, experiences, expertise, fleet and cable supply capabilities,” said Hakan Ozmen, EVP Projects, Prysmian Group.
12/6/21 – Cerrowire, a leading U.S. manufacturer of copper building wire, announced that it is investing more than $100 million to build a 270,000-sq-ft facility in Hartselle, Alabama, to manufacture a new product, metal-clad cable (M-C cable), which is also known as armored cable.
A press release said that the company—which this year celebrates its 100th anniversary—is building the plant at the Morgan Center Business Park in Hartselle. M-C cable, it noted, is a growing sector in the building wire market, used for most types of building construction, primarily in commercial, but also for some residential and industrial applications. The facility will incorporate advanced systems and equipment, allowing the company to further its commitment to high quality and cost control.
“We are looking forward to Hartselle being the strategic location that is a perfect fit for our major new venture and to the creation of over 130 jobs to support this growing community,” said Cerrowire President Stewart Smallwood. “The state of Alabama, Morgan County, the Tennessee Valley Authority and city of Hartselle are excellent partners in creating an environment for our business to flourish.”
Smallwood said that adding M-C cable to the company’s product portfolio allows it to leverage its core business—manufacturing building wire—and to provide a strong building wire solution that fulfills a growing need.”
The new plant will be Cerrowire’s second one in the city. The company’s existing copper cable plant in Hartselle, on Thompson Road, has more than 300 employees. That operation is expected to continue a growth path in 2022.
12/6/21 – Nexans has opened the first North American plant that has the capacity to manufacture high-voltage subsea cables up to 525 kV HVDC and 400 kV HVAC.
A press release said that the site in Charleston, South Carolina, will provide the full range of products for export cables for offshore wind and subsea interconnectors. The first subsea high-voltage export cable will be delivered to an offshore windfarm in the U.K. beginning in 2022.
The Charleston plant is part of the comprehensive supply chain that is being developed to support offshore wind in the U.S. market. Energy companies such as Eversource, Ørsted and Equinor are among those whose projects are expected to accelerate the energy transition in the U.S. Nexans has signed a framework agreement with Eversource and Ørsted to supply the first U.S.-made subsea high voltage export cables for the projects, and preferred supplier agreement with Equinor for the turnkey projects Empire Wind 1 and 2.
Nexans estimates that it will be able to deliver up to 1,000 km of cables for Ørsted’s and Eversource offshore wind farms in North America up until 2027. Also, as the preferred supplier for Equinor’s Empire Wind, early engagement for Mayflower, Nexans is well positioned to support the U.S. with further energy transition projects.
“It’s an exciting time for the wind industry in the U.S. as we unleash the potential that offshore renewable energy offers,” said Nexans CEO Christopher Guérin. “Our purpose is to ‘electrify the future’ and our expanded facility allows us to do that by combining decades of experience in developing and manufacturing high voltage cables with the newly launched and the most technically advanced cable-laying vessel (CLV) Aurora. We are thrilled to contribute to the wind power revolution in the U.S. and beyond.”
Guérin said that the initiative helps efforts to create a more sustainable world and further electrification efforts, while helping the U.S. meet its goals for carbon neutrality. “We believe that offshore wind will be key to create a clean energy economy; helping to add jobs, stimulate the economy, all while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.”
Built in 2014 to serve the U.S. high-voltage transmission market, the Charleston plant expansion supports the rapidly growing U.S. offshore wind market. By the end of 2021, Nexans will have created 210 new jobs to support the industry development in South Carolina.
11/5/21 – JDR Cable Systems (JDR), a global subsea cable and umbilical supplier and servicer that is part of the TFK Group, plans to open a new state-of-the-art, 69,000-sq-m subsea cable manufacturing facility in Cambois, near Blyth, Northumberland.
A press release said that JDR has confirmed its intention to go ahead with the project, subject to final agreements, with construction expected to begin in 2022 ahead of a 2024 opening, creating 170 local jobs on completion and safe-guarding 270 jobs at JDR’s existing facilities.
The initial project investment is estimated at £130 million, which will be partially funded by a grant from the BEIS Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Support (OWMIS) scheme. JDR and TFK plan to raise the remaining funding with support expected from financial institutions and U.K. Export Finance.
The new facility is the first stage of JDR’s plans to expand its product portfolio to support the growing global renewable energy market, adding high voltage export and long length array cables to its existing capacity and product capabilities. Further stages of the development could result in over 400 staff working at the site, with supplied products complementing JDR’s existing capacity provided by the company’s U.K. manufacturing centers in Hartlepool and Littleport. When complete, the facility will include a new catenary continuous vulcanization (CCV) line, making it the only facility in the U.K. capable of full start-to-finish manufacturing of high-voltage subsea cables for offshore wind farms to support the growing global renewable energy market.
11/4/21 – The Prysmian Group has received a Notice to Proceed for an approximately €200 million contract to supply a submarine power cable system for the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind farm that will account for 134 km of power cable.
A press release said that the order is a milestone in the development of the offshore wind farm sector in the U.S. as Vineyard will include 62 wind turbines and will generate 800 megawatts of electricity annually and power over 400,000 homes. Under the contract awarded in 2019, by Vineyard Wind, LLC, a U.S. offshore wind development owned by funds of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and by Avangrid Renewables (part of the Iberdrola Group), Prysmian Group will develop a submarine power cable system project which will deliver clean energy to the mainland power grid.
The Group is responsible for the design, manufacture, installation and commissioning of an HVAC (High Voltage Alternating Current) cable system composed of two 220 kV three-core cables using extruded XLPE insulation. The submarine cables will be produced in Prysmian Group’s centers of excellence in Pikkala, Finland, and Arco Felice, Italy. Installation operations will be performed by Prysmian Group’s state-of-the-art cable laying vessels Cable Enterprise and Ulisse. Delivery and commissioning of the project are scheduled for Q4 2023.
Prysmian will also provide PRY-CAM permanent monitoring solutions, the Group’s breakthrough technology that allows on-line, accurate and reliable in-depth information helping electric assets owners to increase uptime, asset longevity and safety, while reducing maintenance costs and risks.
“The resumption of the vineyard project confirms the acceleration of the United States towards the energy transition,” said Hakan Ozmen, EVP Projects, Prysmian Group. “Prysmian aims at playing a key role in the development and upgrade of power grid infrastructures to support the transition to renewable energy sources in the U.S. We have state-of-the-art cable technology, large production and installation assets, as well as a wide presence and track record in the U.S.”
11/3/21 – Leoni AG has officially opened its fourth automotive wiring plant in Serbia, where the German company is the largest private industrial employer.
A press release said that opening of the plant in Kraljevo, further bolsters Leoni’s position as a high-performance supplier to the international automotive industry. The company to date has invested more than 50 million euros in the plant. The site is not only the biggest Leoni plant in Serbia, it also employs the largest number of people at full capacity (up to 5,000 by the end of 2023). The building covers more than 60,000 sqm, of which 45,000 sqm is the production area, which is now completed. The site is the first new plant built in almost 30 years in the region of Kraljevo and is expected to significantly contribute to the decrease of the unemployment rate, raise the living standard in the area, and accelerate its development pace.
Among those at the official opening were Aleksandar Vučić, the president of the Republic of Serbia, and Predrag Terzić, the mayor of the city of Kraljevo.
During the proceedings, Leoni CEO Aldo Kamoer declared the initiative a success and praised Serbian leaders for making the process a smooth one. “We are grateful for the unbureaucratic and very professional support of the authorities over all these years. We are happy to be able to tap into a large pool of dedicated and motivated employees here. And we are glad that we are contributing to raising the general standard of living in the region with our commitment in recent years. I think that’s what you call a win-win situation.”
Pierluigi Ghione, managing director of Leoni Wiring Systems Southeast d.o.o., said that the investment reflects the company’s commitment to Serbia. “Leoni is clearly focused on growth in this region – offering more job opportunities, expanding its business, becoming the biggest industrial employer in Serbia. What is more important than being the biggest employer is being the best employer. This is not an easy task, but we as one Leoni Serbia Team, together with central and local authorities, are working very hard to achieve this goal.”
11/3/21 – The Marine division of Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) announced that it recently acquired two vessels—the Ile de Molène and the Ile d’Yeu—as part of its strategy to modernize and expand installation capacities for the growing submarine telecommunications market.
A press release said that the two vessels joined the ASN fleet respectively on May 7, 2021, for the Ile de Molène and on June 17, 2021, for the Ile d’Yeu. Both vessels will now go through a heavy engineering and upgrade program. The Ile de Molène will be assigned to the maintenance of customer telecommunications cables in the Atlantic and North Sea. The vessel is expected to start operating in the first half of 2022. Ile d’Yeu will join the installation fleet at the end of 2022, and be installed with transoceanic telecom systems. The vessels specifications are as follows: the Ile d’Yeu is 147 m long, and has 4,375 net tonnage and 13,520 gross tonnage. The Ile de Molène is 98 m long, and has 2,080 net tonnage and 5,729 gross tonnage.
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