Madison, Connecticut, USA. The Wire Association International (WAI), Inc. announces the appointment of Kurt F. Breischaft as the 70th president of the association for a one-year term that commences on Jan. 1, 2023. Breischaft will chair the Board of Directors of the 93-year-old association, which is headquartered in Madison, Connecticut, USA.
Breischaft has more than 30 years’ experience in the copper industry. He is president of SDI LaFarga COPPERWORKS, a copper rod and wire mill in New Haven, Indiana, a post he has held since November 2013. Prior to that Breischaft held roles of increasing importance including vice president and general manager of Cerro Plumbing, a Marmon Group/Berkshire Hathaway Company; plant manager for Belden Americas - Nogales, Mexico and Belden/Thermax; and positions as process engineer, engineering manager, plant manager, and manufacturing manager at the Essex Group, Inc./Superior Essex.
An active WAI member since 2000, Breischaft received its 2006 Wire Link Scholarship. His valuable contributions through volunteer leadership within the association include serving two terms on WAI’s Board of Directors; participation on WAI’s Executive and Oversight Committees; chair of its Member Relations Committee; and Executive Committee Liaisonship to its Finance, Memorial Awards, and Education Committees. In addition to his role as 2023 WAI president, Breischaft will serve as Co-Chair of its Conference Programming Committee, Chair of its Oversight Committee, and Executive Committee Liaison to its Education Committee.
Commenting on this new appointment, Breischaft said, “I look forward to advancing the latest WAI education initiative, developing multimedia training modules, and building on WAI’s legacy products such as handbooks. This will be a crucial step for the next generation of industry engineers and operators.”
Breischaft holds a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Indiana, USA, and an M.B.A. degree from Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, Indiana, USA.
The Wire Association International, Inc. is governed by a network of volunteers from around the globe. Joining Breischaft for the 2023 term are members of the association’s 2023 Executive Committee: First Vice President Daniel Blais, Prysmian Group; Second Vice President Eric Bieberich, Fort Wayne Wire Die; David Fisher,
James Monroe Wire & Cable Corp.; and Immediate Past President James R. York, Insteel Industries, Inc.
SDI LaFarga COPPERWORKS is a joint venture between Steel Dynamics, Inc. and the La Farga Group. The company is driven by a team of just over 120 employees and utilizes a patented advanced refining process that melts environmentally friendly material as well as established shaft furnace technology. Both processes yield a high purity cast and rolled 8 mm copper rod product. Steel Dynamics Inc., headquartered in Fort Wayne, IN, is a member of the S&P 500 and is one of the largest metals recyclers and metals producers in North America. La Farga Group, headquartered in Barcelona, Spain., has been has providing copper recycling solutions since 1808.
WAI, founded in 1930, is a not-for-profit association with more than 2000 individual members in 50 countries. The association serves the educational needs of the wire and cable manufacturing industry through a variety of products and services. WAI manages the Interwire Trade Exhibition and the WAI Operations Summit & Wire Expo and publishes the Wire Journal International and the Wire Journal International Reference Guide.
Media Contacts: Janice E. Swindells, Director Marketing & Corporate Communications, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Tel.: 001-203-453-2777, x. 117; Steven J. Fetteroll, Executive Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Tel.: 001-203-453-1777.
NKT has signed a contract to supply the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) onshore power cable system for the Hertel-New York project, which is the Canadian transmission line in the U.S. that will connect to the Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) transmission line.
A press release said that NKT will design and manufacture a 2 x 60 km 400 kV HVDC onshore cable system that has an estimated value of €90 million. The power cables will be produced in Karlskrona, Sweden, and are expected to be delivered in 2024.
As a part of the overall transmission of sustainable hydropower from Canada to New York City, Hertel-New York will facilitate the onshore power transmission from the Hertel substation in Quebec, Canada, to the submarine section that continues to the U.S. border, where it connects to the CHPE transmission line. Once completed, the transmission line, one of the largest infrastructure investments in the history of New York, will help the state meet its goals of having 70% of power generation and consumption come from renewable energy sources by 2030.
“I am very satisfied that we have been awarded the contract for Hertel-New York which further cements our position as a key partner in ensuring the transmission of renewable power to New York,” said NKT President & CEO Alexander Kara. “This is a key project for NKT, and we are looking forward to close collaboration with Hydro-Québec. We aspire to continue to expand our market presence in Canada and the U.S. where we expect the green transition to create additional growth opportunities.”
Italy's Prysmian has won a €60 million contract for laying submarine cables as part of the strategic HVDC transmission system for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC (TAQA) Lightning Project in the UAE.
A press release said that Prysmian secured a deal for the supply of power cables worth around €220 million in January. The contract was awarded under a limited notice to proceed by Samsung C&T as part of its EPC consortium with Jan De Nul, with an option open for an installation agreement. The project is set for completion in 2025.
ADNOC and TAQA announced the successful financial closure of their $3.8bn project to power and significantly decarbonize ADNOC’s offshore production operations in September. The main purpose of the new HVDC link is to replace ADNOC’s current offshore power with a renewable onshore power source, reducing its environmental impact and CO2 emissions.
Under the ADNOC Lightning Project, Prysmian will design, supply, assemble and test a symmetrical monopole system consisting of four HVDC 320 kV single-core cables with XLPE insulation, along with fiber optic cable systems, that will connect the Al Mirfa onshore converter station to Al Ghallan, an artificial offshore island in the Arabian Gulf, located off the Abu Dhabi coast.
The project comprises both a subsea route of approximately 134 km of submarine HVDC cables, and onshore routes located at Al Mirfa and Al Ghallan Island, totaling approximately 3.5 km of HVDC land cable route. Offshore installation operations will be performed by Prysmian’s Leonardo da Vinci, with the shallow water activities being performed by the cable-laying barge Ulisse.
Covid has continued to make planning difficult in China, where the organizers of wire China 2022 announced that the event—rescheduled several times, with a new location—will be held sometime in 2023 at the original site.
A press release said that the organizers—Messe Düsseldorf (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Electric Cable Research Institute Co.—have decided not to stage wire China this year after considering the still existing Covid-19 restrictions. The event has been originally scheduled for Sept. 26-29, 2022, at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). It was twice rescheduled to a new site—the Nanjing International Expo Center—but will now return to the SNIEC.
For further details on registration, look for updates at the event website: www.wirechina.net.
JDR Cable Systems (JDR) announced signing a substantial subsea cable contract as well as the official beginning of construction of its new U.K. cable plant in in Cambois, near Blyth, Northumberland.
A press release said that the project—previously announced but now finalized with a signed contract—is for inter-array cables (IAC) for the Moray West Offshore Wind Farm, which is part of the Ocean Winds portfolio of U.K. projects. The cable will be manufactured at JDR’s Hartlepool facility.
The IACs will connect the wind turbines back to the offshore substation platforms (OSP) before exporting the power back to the onshore connection point at Blackhillock near Keith. The deal also includes an interconnector cable that will be buried in the seabed to connect the two OSPs. JDR will provide about 125 km of 66 kV subsea cables that will be installed by Seaway 7 ASA.
“Moray West has an essential role to play in the energy transition and as a U.K. manufacturer we are delighted to have won this contract to support the U.K. energy market,” said JDR Sales Director John Price, who noted that there were logistical advantages. “Transporting a cable of this size from overseas would have had large environmental and commercial costs involved.”
The release said that the latest contract confirms the need for JDR to open a new subsea cable manufacturing facility in Cambois, near Blyth, Northumberland. It is part 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.
JDR’s 69,000-sq-m factory is expected to be operational by 2024. The £130 million project will deliver vital subsea cable manufacturing technology to the offshore wind market. The facility, to include a CCV line, will bet 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.
“We’re delighted to be starting construction, it’s taken a lot of hard work from all stakeholders for spades to finally hit the ground today,” said JDR CEO Tomasz Nowak. “This region and the east coast of the U.K. has plans to connect an incredible amount of energy infrastructure in the coming years and we’re proud to be contributing to it in the midst of a growing offshore energy sector.
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