wiredinUSA April 2015

INDEX

Solar in Egypt

Azerbaijan newspaper Azer News has reported on the progress of a broadband Internet development project in the country. Approximately €450 million has been allocated to the project to connect cities and villages in Azerbaijan with fiber optic cables. Sumgait Technology Park (STP) is to supply cables to the project, officials revealed. STP has cable manufacturing equipment supplied by Knill Grouppe, and is the first fiber optic cable manufacturer in the country. The new local supply will give a price advantage to cable buyers who previously relied on cables from Turkey and other neighboring European countries. Fiber-to-the-home projects in Azerbaijan are still in the initial stages. Though many plans were made in the past for the implementation of FTTH in the country, the major telecom operator Aztelekom is yet to come forward with implementation schedules. STP is currently in talks with Azerbaijani operators on the issue of fiber optic cables and national infrastructure projects. Azerbaijan broadband

Subsea upgrade

Power from above

SkyPower Global and International Gulf Development (IGD) have signed an agreement with the Egyptian government to develop 3,000MW of solar photovoltaic projects over the next four years. The agreement is seen as a milestone in Egypt's strategic plan to develop a sustainable renewable energy industry. “The availability of energy, and managing thedemand for it, isoneof themainpriorities on the Egyptian development agenda,” said Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, president of Egypt. The venture will entail a multi-phase development of clean, sustainable energy to support the growing energy needs of Egypt, and directly contribute to the government’s goal of producing 20 percent of energy from renewables by 2020. SkyPower IGD’s phase one will reach commercial operation in late 2015. The Canadian ambassador to Egypt, Troy Lulashnyk, who was present at the signing, said the agreement: “marks a significant milestone” for international businesses, sendinga “clear signal…that they canwork in Egypt with confidence, and to Egyptians that their country is open for business.”

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has completed an upgrade and expansion of the SEA-ME-WE 4 cable system. The SEA-ME-WE 4 system, which was commissioned in 2005, is an ultra-high capacity fiber optic submarine cable system linking south east Asia to western Europe via the Middle East. The 20,000km network, linking 16 landing stations, is owned by a consortium of 16 telecom carriers in 14 countries. Mitsubishi Electric supplied its 100G MF-6900GWS submarine line terminal equipment (SLTE) with incorporated superior coherent technology for all 16 landing stations to upgrade the current 40Gbps to 100Gbps and expand the ultimate design capacity from 2,800Gbps to 4,600Gbps. The new SLTE doubles the data capacity per rack and is said to reduce power consumption per unit of data volume by 47 percent per station.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has conducted ground demonstration testing of “wireless power transmission”, a new technology presently under development to serve as the core technology of the space solar power systems (SSPS) expected to be the power generation systems of the future. With successful completion of the test at the company's Kobe Shipyard and Machinery Works, MHI has now verified the viability of long distance wireless power transmission. In the ground demonstration test, 10kW of power was sent from a transmitting unit by microwave. The reception of power was confirmed at a receiver unit located at a distance of 500maway by the illumination of LED lights, using the transmitted power. The transmission distance and power load mark new milestones in Japan with respect to length and volume of wireless power transmission. MHIconductedthegrounddemonstration testing based on an agreement with Japan Space Systems, the incorporated foundation that has been consigned by the Japanese ministry of economy, trade and industry to carry out the 2012 solar power wireless transmission technology development project.

ASIA / AFRICA NEWS

wiredInUSA - April 2015

wiredInUSA - April 2015

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