wiredinUSA October 2019

Americaˊs online magazine for wire and cable

Issue No. 100 - October 2019

www.wiredInUSA.com

America’s online magazine for wire and cable

wiredIn USA

Power for the Old Dominion Page 9

Cable start-up. Page 10

Superconducting wire market forecast. Page 29

Coral Sea connections. Page 35

Quick Reliable Service Always there to help

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EDITOR

Plans for the largest offshore wind project in the US state of Virginiahavebeenbrandeda“hugeeconomicopportunity” for the state. The American Wind Energy Association claims that Dominion Energy’s plans for the project – located in the 112,800 acres it leases from the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) – will strengthen the state’s economy, and bring highly skilled careers and new investments in shipbuilding, port and coastal infrastructure to the region. Ocean survey work is expected to begin next year and the construction and operations plan will be submitted to BOEM in 2022, with the first phase expected to be completed by 2024 and additional phases coming online in 2025 and 2026, giving 2,600MW of energy generating capacity. See page 9 for the full story. One hundred and twenty new jobs are expected to be created following the launch of Sequel Wire and Cable, a start-up manufacturer that is establishing a new manufacturing facility in Argos, Indiana. The facility is expected to be operational early next year andwill produce insulated copper wire products. Get the full details on page 10.

David Bell Editor

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wiredInUSA October 2019

October 2019 Issue No.100 CONTENTS

06 PAGE

Show Diary 2019/2020

09 PAGE

Making the News Industry news from the USA

28 PAGE

Europe news The latest news from Europe

34 PAGE

Asia & Africa News The latest news from Asia & Africa

40 PAGE

Products, Machines & Technology The latest news from machine industries

wiredInUSA October 2019

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wiredIn USA

© 2019 Intras Limited UK ISSN 2046 - 9497 Publishers of EuroWire and Wire & Cable ASIA magazines

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News Editor David Bell david@wiredinusa.com

Features Editor (USA and Europe) Gill Watson Publisher Caroline Sullens

Sales & Marketing (International) Sales Director Jason Smith jason@wiredinusa.com +44 1926 834 684 Accounts Manager Karen Low karen@intras.co.uk

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Diary Shows & Events 2019/2020

October 1-3 October 2019 wire South America São Paulo, Brazil www.wire-south-america.com

october 21-22 October 2019 Wire & Cable Verona 2019 Conference Verona, Italy www.wirecable19.com november 18-20 November 2019 CRU World Optical Fiber & Cable 2019 North Carolina, USA www.worldopticalfiberconference.com

november 11-13 November 2019 CRU Africa Cable Wire & Tube 2019 Johannesburg, South Africa www.africawirecabletubeconference.com

March 3-5 March 2020 Cables 2020 Düsseldorf, Germany www.ami.international

March 30 March - 3 April 2020 wire Düsseldorf Düsseldorf, Germany www.wire.de

For more info visit: www.wiredinusa.com/showinfo.php

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Power for the Old Dominion M A K I N G T H E NEWS

Dominion Energy plans to build the single largest offshore wind project in the US in the state of Virginia, bringing, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) a “huge economic opportunity” for the state. Laura Smith Morton, senior director, offshore wind, AWEA, said: “Offshore wind will strengthen Virginia’s economy with many highly skilled careers and new investments in the shipbuilding, port and coastal infrastructure.” If approved, the Dominion Energy offshore wind project will be located within the 112,800 acres the company leases from the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.

and operations plan will be submitted to BOEM in 2022.

Dominion Energy recently began construction of the 12MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, the first fully permitted wind project in US federal waters. Following the deployment of the CVOW project in 2020, Dominion Energy will progress with its commercial offshore wind project in three phases, each totaling 880MW. The project’s first phase is expected to begin producing electricity by 2024. Additional phases will come online in 2025 and 2026, totaling 2,600MW of energy-generating capacity.

Ocean survey work is expected to begin in 2020 and the construction

Front cover : Dominion Energy

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wiredInUSA October 2019

Image: Marshall County Economic Development Corporation

Cable start-up

Sequel Wire and Cable, a start-up manufacturer, is establishing a new manufacturing facility in Argos, Indiana, creating up to 120 new jobs. The facility will produce insulatedcopper wireproducts, and is expected to be operational in early 2020. Sequel’s co-founder, James Merritt, said: “We appreciate the support shown by Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), the townof Argos, Marshall County Economic

Development Corporation, and the Argos Economic Development Commission [while] we put together our plans to make this investment. Sequel looks forward to becoming part of the Argos community.” George Null, council president for the town of Argos, commented: “Wevaluetheexpression of confidence in the way that we’re now attracting, and supporting, such advanced manufacturing operations.”

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Tech giants race for renewables

Google has concluded what is believed to be the largest corporate purchase of renewable energy, to date, with a 40 percent increase in its energy investment. The CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, revealed in a company blog that the latest package of wind power and solar energy agreements, totalling 1,600MW, will bring the company’s renewables portfolio up to 5,500MW. “Once all these projects are operational, our carbon-free energy portfolio will produce more electricity than is used annually by places like Washington

DC, or entire countries such as Lithuania or Uruguay,” he said.

In the meantime, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos promised the company will be using 100 percent renewable energy in its global infrastructure by 2030, and is to buy 100,000 electric vehicles. According to Amazon data currently 40 percent of the energy consumed by its facilities comes from renewable sources, and the objective is to move to 80 percent in 2024 before achieving 100 percent in 2030.

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Designing for robots

Engineers at Tesla have developed awiring harness design that enables more robot automation in the manufacturing process and reduces materials. The new wiring architecture will be used for upcoming models including the Model Y crossover utility vehicle and the Tesla pickup truck. In the recent past, Elon Musk has admitted that humans perform better than robots at some tasks, such as manipulating long cables; Tesla has addressed this issue by reducing the length of its wiring harnesses. The Model S has about 3km of wiring

The Beta LaserMike brand has been faithfully serving the wire and cable industry for over 50 years and we have thousands of satisfied customers that rely on our measurement systems every day to improve quality, increase productivity and deliver manufacturing savings. We are committed to your success. Precision Measurement & Control Solutions A recent patent application from Tesla describes more rigid wiring harness systems that can be easily manipulated by robots, claiming: “In addition to decreasing the number and length of wiring needed, the ability to create these subassemblies and then connect them to the wiring- architecture backbone will decrease assembly time…which is very desirable to increase productivity.” harness, and the Model 3 has around 1.5km. The long term goal is to reduce harness length to 100m.

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New wind facility

Lincoln Clean Energy (LCE), the US onshore subsidiary of Ørsted, is ready to begin work on the 230MW Plum Creek wind facility in Wayne County, Nebraska. It will begin operations during 2020, bringing LCE’s total wind farm capacity up to 670MW across Texas, Nebraska and North Dakota. Declan Flanagan, CEO of LCE, said in a press release: “Plum Creek is an excellent addition to the growing LCE portfolio, and

expands our geographic footprint in the attractive Southwest Power Pool market, which serves the central United States.” LCE has long-term power purchase agreements with JM Smucker Company, Vail Resorts and Avery Dennison Corporation.

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Chile cable study

Chile’s telecommunications regulator is studying the possibility of a direct subsea cable system between South America and Asia. It would provide an alternative to current connections routed via the United States or Europe. The government has awarded a $2.9 million contract to Telecommunications Management Group Inc and WFN Strategies LLC to provide an assessment of

the economic, technical and legal issues surrounding the project.

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wiredInUSA October 2019

Strategic funding for manufacturer

The wire and wire rod manufacturer Heico Canada is to receive a financial boost through the Strategic Innovation Fund. Through the fund the Canadian government will invest $18 million of a $50.7 million project that will create 86 jobs and maintain 1,308 more at three Heico facilities. Heico, a manufacturer of products used in automotive, energy, agriculture and construction sectors, will use the funding

to diversify its product range, purchase new equipment, and improve production capabilities while also reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.

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Production of SubCom’s high fiber count (HFC) cable is underway. SubCom is believed to be the first to market with the long haul system implementation of its space division multiplexing technology (SDM) and HFC architecture. The company has added a new high fiber count loose tube line in a Class 100,000 cleanroom, to ensure the highest standards in cleanliness during fiber handling and loose tube production processes. The loose tube line can handle up to 48 fiber spools, allowing for a 24FP cable, and can run at over 175m per minute. The line provides improved processing controls and higher capacity. SubCom has also invested in 3D laser weld alignment sensors and a new weld box with seamtracking to provideamoreautonomous and stable seam welding process for copper and steel. “SubCom is committed to providing the highest quality products and services to meet the evolving needs of the subsea cable industry,” said David Coughlan, CEO.

Investment, and a launch

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Ocean Networks has formed a new business unit, Submarine Cable Salvage, to repurpose out of service (OOS) submarine cable systems to serve ocean observatories. The new unit will acquire, repurpose and operate the connected observatories to help monitor the world’s oceans. Bandwidth requirements for the research and education (R&E) community are typically low. “Launching this initiative and supporting these communities is very important to submarine cable salvage, because of the significant impact it can have on gathering data from the ever-changing ocean environment,” said Scott Schwertfager, CEO, Ocean Networks. “With past tsunami events we can see the importance of monitoring our oceans, not only for disaster mitigation, but to capture environmental changes that will help the scientific community combat pollution in our oceans.” The new unit will be funded by a private investment group that focuses on disaster mitigation and oceanic preservation. “Pollution detection in our oceans is of critical importance,” added Frank DiMaria, EVP of business development at Ocean Networks. “This endeavor not only reduces the carbon footprint caused by the manufacturing of new cables, it also means fewer plastics are introduced into our oceans by repurposing the existing OOS cables.”

Cable recycling, subsea

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Danieli’s quenching and self-tempering system

Second order from Ohio

Nucor Steel has asked Danieli to supply a new quenching and self-tempering system, to be installed at the same mill in Marion, Ohio, that received a Danieli 18-stand rolling mill in 2018.

The result is a product with final technological characteristics equal to, or even better than, those obtained by low- alloyed/micro-alloyed steels. The new system is designed for rolling speeds up to 13m per second for single and multi-strand rebar, and will be controlled by a dedicated system provided by Danieli Automation.

Commissioning is expected within the next few months.

The quenching and self-tempering process improves the mechanical properties of deformed bars, in particular the yield strength, using billets with a lower alloy content.

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A new range of digital electricity cables from Belden. Photograph courtesy of Belden

Digital cables

Working in conjunction with VoltServer, the developer of Digital Electricity TM , Belden has launched a new range of digital electricity cables. The cables are available in copper and hybrid copper/ fiber constructions to transmit power and data over long distances in a single cable run. Belden’s Digital Electricity cables are said to deliver up to 20 times more power over distance than Power over Ethernet (PoE), carrying up to 2,000W for up to 2km in indoor and outdoor applications. Twistedpairs in the copper cablemaintain flexibility during installation, improve electrical performance and speed up installation. Made of tinned copper, the cable features anti-corrosion properties for improved longevity. The copper/fiber hybrid version helps installers reduce cable inventory (because a hybrid construction requires only one cable to

stock and manage) and reduces labor costs with only a single cable to pull.

“With the explosion of IoT has also come the need for remote power. Many wireless devices aren’t located near a local power source,” said Michael Bodzay, Belden’s product manager, security and electronic cable. “These cables are the only application-specific solution designed to support the way Digital Electricity works: combining energy and data into packets and transferring hundreds of packets each second from a transmitter to a receiver. This process constantly monitors conditions and stops power distribution immediately if an issue is detected.” Digital Electricity cables are available shielded or unshielded, in pairs of two, four or eight and in diameters of 14, 16 or 18 AWG.

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Davis-Standard’s new DS-Blend feedscrew

Extruder feedscrew

Davis-Standard has introduced a new option for its DS-Blend feedscrew line. This patent-pending design is said to improve the performance of a single screw extruder in demanding applications by providing distributive and dissipative melt mixing. Thetwo-stageapproachachievesoutputs similar to those of a single-stage barrier screw, but with a lower melt temperature and reduced energy requirements. It can be installed on non-Davis-Standard extruders, as well as onto new or existing single screw Davis-Standard units. According to John Christiano, vice president of technology at Davis- Standard: “This is one of our most versatile and energy-efficient feedscrews to date.

As with all of our feedscrew designs, we are focusedonproduct lineperformance, improved outputs, material homogeneity and feedscrew longevity. We are also proud of the fact that we can build a feedscrew for any extruder brand.” Davis-Standard’s DSB ® feedscrews are available in diameters from¾ to 12 inches (19mm to 300mm). Each screw is engineered for specific polymers and processes and, depending on the end product, with customization available. Davis-Standard feedscrews accommodate the full range of extrusion and converting applications including compounding, elastomer, extrusion coating, fiber, pipe, profile and tubing systems.

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wiredInUSA October 2019

CPR certification for AFL

Construction-certified cables

Optic fiber manufacturer AFL has received construction products regulation (CPR) certification for its sub- unitized MicroCore ® 2.0 and MicroCore 3.0, and for its ruggedized MicroCore product line. CPR, often recognized as CE marked, defines minimum cable fire safety standards (EuroClasses) based on installation and building type. Each country sets its own minimum EuroClass requirements for permanently installed cables. AFL’s sub-unitized MicroCore 2.0 Base-8 and Base-12 cables are available in fiber counts up to 144 and 216, respectively, and support high-density networks. Sub- unitized premise MicroCore 3.0 Base-12 and Base-24 designs are available up to 144 fibers and 288 fibers, respectively, and both standard 250µm fiber and SpiderWeb Ribbon ® technology designs

are available for MicroCore 3.0. Designed for direct termination and supportive of both single- and multi-fiber architectures, this cable rangecan supply thebackbone for a deployed system. The ruggedized MicroCore is an alternative to traditional inside plant central loose tube ribbon cable. Consisting of bare fiber, the cable eliminates edge fiber stress, and is suitable for termination of fiber rack systems, intra-building backbones, headend termination to a fiber backbone or MTP/MPO or MTP to breakout terminations. “Receiving the CPR certification and accompanying AVCP 1+ system certification greatly expands our data center cable portfolio, worldwide,” commented Michael Houck, product manager for AFL.

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Mr Frank J Bilban

Board room changes

Mr Frank J Bilban, vice president and chief financial officer of Encore Wire Corporation, is to retire in May 2020. His successor will be Mr Bret J Eckert. Daniel L Jones, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Encore Wire, said: “Frank Bilban has been a vital member of our executive team and has served the company with distinction, making an immense contribution to [its] growth and success. “Although we hate to lose Frank, we are delighted to have Bret Eckert replace Frank as vice president-finance, treasurer, secretary and chief financial officer. Bret

has extensive experience managing financial operations in several firms, most recently [serving] as executive managing director for the Houston office of Riveron Consulting LLC, a business advisory firm. …He spent the first twenty-two years of his career with Ernst and Young LLP where he was a partner for ten years. Bret had numerous manufacturing clients, including Encore Wire, whom he audited for five years as a manager and later for five years as a partner. The Encore team and Bret know each other well.” Eckert will take up his new position on 1 st January 2020, working closely with Frank Bilban during the transition period.

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wiredInUSA October 2019

EUROPE NEWS

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Superconducting wire market forecast

A new report from ResearchAndMarkets. com forecasts the global superconducting wire market to grow by $629.7 million by 2025. High temperature superconductors, one of the segments analyzed in the study, has the potential to grow at over 9.8 percent, possibly reaching over $1 billion by the year 2025. The US is expected to maintain a 7.7 percent growth momentum while, in Japan, high temperature superconductors are predicted to reach a market size of $49.5 million by the close of the analysis period. As currently the world’s second largest economy, China exhibits the potential to grow at 13.7 percent over the next two years and add approximately $181.9 million in terms of addressable opportunity for manufacturers.

The new report is presented in visually rich graphics, providing valuable quantitative data to inform strategy decisions, whether regarding entry into new markets or the allocation of resources within a portfolio. Several macro-economic factors and internal market forces will shape growth and development of demand patterns in emerging countries in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East. As well as identifying competitors in the market, and analyzing their market shares, the report examines the superconducting wire competitor market share worldwide scenario in 2019 and 2025; global competitor market shares by segment; high temperature superconductors global competitor market share by type; and low andmediumtemperaturesuperconductors market share by type.

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wiredInUSA October 2019

Custom cables

Swedish upgrade

During the last quarter, UK-based Cable Solutions Worldwide has manufactured over 50km of custom subsea cable for a variety of worldwide clients. The company said in a statement: ”The last quarter was especially busy for Cable Solutions; we undertook bespoke cable design and manufacture for a variety of subsea projects, with production runs of 300 to 5,000 meters. We were [also] active in fiber optic cable manufacture, …[offering] smaller, lighter fiber optic and hybrid cables for subsea projects, [for] large bandwidth in a compact configuration…and umbilicals for pumps and processing, including cables for terminating subsea trees, for energy, control and safety.” Graham Ross, business development manager, added: “We are always ready to discuss cable design requests, and provide short manufactured lengths for project trials. Bespoke cable design and manufacture is one of our key strengths.” Image courtesy of Cable Solutions Worldwide Ltd

NKT will install 420kV high voltage AC subsea power cables as part of a project to replace overhead lines across Stockholm, Sweden. Increased stability for the Stockholm area power grid, combined with the demands of a rising population, have spurred the “Stockholm Ström” project to secure an adequate power supply. Part of the project is the replacement of overhead lines on the 6km-long sea distance between the Beckomberga and Bredäng quarters of Stockholm. The order was awardedby Ellevio, andNKTwill provide all design, manufacturing and offshore installation of 50km of power cables. “We see a growing need to expand power grids to support both rising populations and urbanization, as well as increased political ambitions for [the] use of electricity generated by renewable energy sources,” said Andreas Berthou, NKT executive vice president and head of high voltage solutions. The cables will be manufactured at NKT’s Karlskrona facility during 2020, with a project completion date in 2022. When commissioned, the Beckomberga- Bredäng connection will operate at 220kV, though the connection will be prepared for grid expansion at a higher voltage level should it become necessary in the future. NKT’s Karlskrona facility. Photograph courtesy of NKT

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Digital transition for FPSO

Rural roll out

Alvheim floating production, storage and offloading unit - Image Aker BP Tampnet and Aker BP have deployed a fiber optic cable to the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit Alvheim, operated by Aker BP. The FPSO is now connected to Tampnet’s subsea fiber optic network, preparing Alvheim for the digital transition being driven by the Aker BP Eureka program for digitalization. Alvheim was previously connected to Tampnet’s network, but this was via a lower capacity radio link from the Heimdal platform that is due for de-commissioning in 2021. Ingve Guttorm Lode, a lead engineer at Aker BP, explained: “This is a very stable connection with high redundancy that will secure the best possible up-time for our operations. With the fiber optic cable’s massive capacity and low latency, we can now explore and test various applications to optimize production onboard.” The process began during the summer, with the picking up of a cable tail installed on Tampnet’s existing system between Heimdal and Mariner, and its replacement with a new 8km cable. The new cable was laid to Alvheim where it was connected to a cable end module (CEM) and deployed to the seabed below Alvheim by the CLV Seaway Aimery.

Image: Emtelle

Emtelle has won a contract to supply tube bundles and fiber cables to Deutsche Glasfaser. The service provider will use the cables as part of its nationwide fiber to the home (FTTH) roll out across Germany. The next phase of the project will target the western part of the country, with the northern and eastern regions to follow. Emtelle believes that Deutsche Glasfaser is focusing its deployment in rural areas. “As Germany’s fastest-growing FTTH network provider it’s vital that we have the technology in place which can enable us to roll out ultra-fast connectivity to the outmost rural areas of thenation – and todo so rapidly,” said Dr Stephan Zimmermann, CTO of Deutsche Glasfaser, adding that Emtelle’s Multifu solution “provides us with the means to swiftly deploy and expand FTTH networks across the nation, which will, ultimately, connect the unconnected.” Emtelle is supplying the Multifu 4mm tube bundles in 12- and 24-tube combinations. The company is also shipping its RTRYVA multi-tube duct and 7mm tube bundles for deployment in “certain areas”, and its 10/6mm products for the government- funded areas of the project.

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wiredInUSA October 2019

MEA sees new MD

Offshore wind finds a base

Arafat Yousef

Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash

Arafat Yousef has been appointed as Nexans’ managing director of the LAN systems business unit in Middle East and Africa (MEA). In his new role, Arafat will be responsible for driving Nexans Cabling Solutions’ business growth, strengthening its channel network, and expanding the company’s reach by focusing on newer markets in the MEA region. Arafat Yousef has over 22 years of experience in the regional IT and structured cabling industry, holding senior roles in companies such as Corning, 3M, Leviton and CNS. Speaking about the role, he said: “This is an exciting time to join Nexans Cabling Solutions. At a time when organizations in the MEA region are accelerating their digital transformation journeys, and governments are investing in building stronger infrastructure for the future, I see tremendous potential for Nexans’ innovative LAN cabling solutions in the region.”

Ørsted officially opened its Hornsea Two offshore construction base (HTOCB) at Humberside airport in the UK, in early September. The facility, a former police station, will house around 30Ørsted employees working to construct the Hornsea Two offshore wind farm, located 89km off the Yorkshire coast. On completion in 2022, Hornsea Two will have a capacity of 1,386MW, making it the world’s largest offshore wind farm. Decommissioning is scheduled for 2046. Preston-based VolkerInfra has already begun the onshore cable works, and construction of the onshore substation is underway.Most of themajor contracts have been awarded and offshore construction is due to begin in 2020. The project will have fewer turbines than its sister project, Hornsea One, but will use a newly developed larger blade to generate more power. Ørsted’s east coast hub, an offshore wind operations and maintenance facility in Grimsby, opened in late September.

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Belgian offshore wind

Phase two of Formosa 1

Image: Ørsted

Image: DEME group

Full production from the second phase of Formosa 1 is expected to begin before the end of 2019. Developer Ørsted has reported that Taiwan’s first commercial- scale offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Miaoli county in the Taiwan Strait, is already producing power. “First power from the second phase of Formosa 1 is a major milestone for the project before completion,” said Matthias Bausenwein, president of Ørsted Asia- Pacific: “An achievement by the Formosa 1 team and all our supply chain partners.” At full power the 128MW Formosa 1, owned by Ørsted (35%), JERA (32.5%), Macquarie Capital (25%), and Swancor (7.5%), will supply 128,000 Taiwanese households. The Taiwanese government has ambitions to install 5.7GW offshore wind by 2025.

DEME’s installation vessel, Innovation , is due to sail to the Belgian North Sea with turbine foundations and transition pieces for the SeaMade offshore wind farm. SeaMade is the largest offshore wind farm project in Belgium, having a 487MW capacity: it is a combination of two offshore wind projects, previously known as Mermaid (235MW) and Seastar (252MW). DEME will install the foundations and all inter-array cables, twooffshoresubstationsandthe220kV submarine high voltage cable. The 8.4MW turbines will be installed on the foundations in spring 2020, and the wind farm is expected to supply renewable energy to Belgium later in that year. Luc Vandenbulcke, CEO of DEME, said: “We look forward to working with our partners and all stakeholders on the SeaMade project, and are confident [that] in the future our combined expertise can play a major role in Belgium’s ambition to double its offshorewind capacity to 4GW by 2025.” Mathias Verkest, SeaMade’s CEO, added that SeaMade will bring Belgian offshore wind capacity to 2,262MWby 2020 and that this will produce over 8TWh per year, approximately 10 percent of the country’s total electricity demandand 50 percent of its total household consumption.

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wiredInUSA October 2019

ASIA & AFRICA NEWS

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Image: ASN

Coral Sea connections

The 4,700km Coral Sea cable, from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, has landed in Australia and will be ready for service in December. Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) laid the cable from Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG), and Honiara, Solomon Islands, to Sydney’s Tamarama Beach, using its Île-de-Bréhat cable ship. The Île- de-Bréhat then returned to the Solomon Islands to lay a separate 730km cable linking Honiara to the provincial centers of Auki, Noro and Taro. Australia’s foreign minister, said the Coral Sea Cable System (CSCS) will provide PNG and the Solomon Islands with “faster, more reliable and affordable Internet, Senator Marise Payne,

delivering capacity to communications, commerce and government service delivery.” The cable, mainly funded by Australia’s aid program, has four fiber-pairs to deliver 20Tbps to PNG and a further 20Tbps to the Solomon Islands. Once complete, PNG and Solomon Islands will majority own the cable and receive the generated revenue. The new cable “will significantly augment Papua New Guinea’s existing submarine cable capacity,” said a spokesman for CSCS. The Solomon Islands currently relies on satellite for international voice and data communications, with only 11% of the population of PNG and the Solomon Islands having any access to the Internet. transformative

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wiredInUSA October 2019

Transmission funding

Fiber for Nepal

Image courtesy of Ariel, rgbstock.com

Korea’s LS Cable & Systems has won the contract to build a fiber optic network in Nepal. The contract, with state-owned telecom service provider Nepal Telecom, is to build the network in the country’s eastern alpine region, including the foothills of Kangchenjunga in the Himalayas. Image courtesy of Crystal Woroniuk, rgbstock.com

Mozambique’s planned Temane-Maputo power line project will go ahead with foreign investment from Notícias; the Norwegian government; the World Bank; the African Development Bank; the Islamic Development Bank; the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Fund; and the Southern African Development Bank. The 563km power line project is an initiative of the Mozambican government and the publicly owned electricity company EDM. The transmission line will stretch from Temane, in the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane, to the capital, Maputo.

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Cable plans for China plus one

Putting plans into action

Photo by Nicholas Doherty on Unsplash

Dutch-based engineering consultancy Pondera and the Korean engineering company Hanmi Global have signed a contract with Jeju HanlimOffshore Wind Co to act as owner’s engineers on the 100MW Jeju Hanlim offshore wind farm off the coast of South Korea. The project is the third offshore wind facility in Korean waters and the second commercial-scale project. Korea is expediting its offshore wind energy sector and expects to add 13GW of capacity by 2030. Jeju Hanlim is located near the Tamra offshore project, near the coast of Jeju Island, south-west of the mainland. The project developer consortium is led by Korea Electric Power Corporation Engineering and Construction (E&C).

The new factory in Laos Japanese wire maker Bando Densen Co has established a cable plant in Laos as part of its “China plus one” strategy, expanding its production bases amid the ongoing US-China trade row. The Bando Densen Lao Co facility began cable production in July. The company has rented a Taiwanese firm’s 3,100m 2 premises to produce round multicore cables. KeisukeMaejima, deputy managing director of Bando Densen Lao, said the company is looking towards annual sales of $6 million. The products will be distributed throughout southeast Asia before expanding to Japan. The company is also considering shifting the labor-intensive assembly process for flexible flat cables, currently produced in Thailand, to the new Laos plant to take advantage of cheaper labor costs, Mr Maejima added. As well as the Thai plant, and three factories in Japan, Bando has its overseas head office in Hong Kong with production bases in Shanghai and Shenzhen in China.

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China’s August figures

Network spread

Dr Hassan Abbas

The average operating rates across Chinese manufacturers of wires and cables declined during August, due to a seasonal lull, but the decline was underpinned by brisk orders from downstream sectors of solar photovoltaic and super-high pressure cable. The latest survey from industry analysts SMM showed that the average run-rate across Chinese wire and cable producers fell 0.32 percentagepoint fromJuly to standat 91.16 percent in August. This is 2.72 percentage points higher than a year ago. As China’s wire and cable industry becomes increasingly concentrated in large companies, small and medium- sized producers are struggling to maintain normal operations on smaller orders and slower cash flow, and this is said to account for the lower August rates. The ratio of raw material inventories to monthly output at Chinese wire and cable producers decreased 1.7 percentage points to 25.63 percent in August, as fluctuating copper prices and a mixed outlook made producers reluctant to stockpile. SMM understood that inventories of finished products were high across copper rod producers.

Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd (TTCL) has plans to roll out a high-speed fiber optic cable network to Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states. Director of Tanzania Information Services Department and chief government spokesperson Dr Hassan Abbas confirmed that the cable is already routed to Zambia and Malawi. The network will serve as a foundation for SADC states to foster the digital economy. The infrastructure is critical to ensure an increase in the use of, and access to, the Internet.

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Australia to support East Timor connection

Connecting the Philippines

Photo by Cristian Palmer on Unsplash

Photo by Sam Balye on Unsplash

The Australian government will fund the first subsea fiber optic cable connection to East Timor. The country currently relies on satellite links for an extremely slow Internet connection. Last year, Australia stepped in to fund two- thirds of the cost of a fiber optic connection to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, a move designed to assist in the development of the two nations and avoid Chinese involvement in the project. East Timor is another nation increasingly looking to China for investment. The cable will link East Timor into the existing North-West Cable System, which runs from Darwin to Port Hedland. While the government has not revealed the precise value of the project, the subsea fiber optic cable to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands is known to have cost $133 million for 4,700km of cable. The East Timor cable will be less than 500km. The World Bank has forecast that the improved Internet access in Papua and the Solomons could contribute $5 billion to the Pacific economy, create up to 300,000 new jobs by 2040, and improve business, education and telemedicine opportunities.

PLDT, a telecommunications and digital services provider in the Philippines, will launch two new subsea cables in Asia Pacific and southeast Asia, in addition to its planned Jupiter cable. Genaro C Sanchez, PLDT’s vice president for international networks, has said that the company is keen to increase connectivity options in the region. Speaking at the Asian Carriers Conference in Cebu in September, Sanchez explained: “Some of the cables now landed in the Philippines need upgrading because they only have roughly 25 years of service life; we have three projects lined up.” Sanchez did not reveal the routes for the other two cables, but he did confirm that they will link the Philippines with key strategic locations in the region. “For the two other projects,” he said “we have yet to sign the construction and maintenance agreement. Our position is to sign it in October or November.” PLDT’s 60Tbps Jupiter cable will link the Philippines and Japan with the west coast of the US, over a 14,000km route. The cable will be ready for service in early 2020.

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Products, Machines & Technology

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Servers and gateways The range of serial device servers and gateways from Phoenix Contact enables a variety of protocols to be seamlessly integrated into a network, or the simple migration of existing serial devices into the modern Ethernet. The new Modbus-to-Ethernet/IP gateways can integrate existing Modbus devices (TCP or RTU slaves) into the Ethernet/IP protocol. In the process, the Modbus register will be easily and conveniently mapped in the Ethernet/IP protocol and made available via web-based management. There are variants with up to four serial interfaces (each RS-232/422/485) and with one or two Ethernet RJ45 ports. The temperature range of -40°C to +70°C and an extensive approval package (UL, IECEx, ATEX) makes the gateways suitable for most industries.

Twist and it’ll stick Cable cleat manufacturer Ellis has developed a twist foot fixing mechanism for use on all sizes and types of its standard cable cleats, Emperor and Vulcan+. The twist foot cleats, which are supplied pre-fitted, are said to be suitable for all installations using cable channel and ladder with inverted rungs.

S S The new twist foot cleat from Ellis

Single-footed versions are available for cables in trefoil up to 58mm, and double- footed versions for cables with diameters between 59mm and 128mm. The single version locks in place with a 90º turn and the tightening of the integral securing bolt, while the double-footed version is secured with tabs that are simply rotated 90º to engage the channel nut, before the securing bolt is tightened. Stephen Walton, Ellis’s technical director, said: “Making installation easier is something we’ve done a lot of work on,

S S The range of serial device servers and gateways from Phoenix Contact

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Commissioning is scheduled to be complete before the end of 2019.

and the twist foot could be a real game changer.

“Not only does it slash installation cost and time, and signal an end to installers hunting around for the right nuts to go with the right bolts, but it means everything needed to install and fit a cable cleat can now be ordered as one product part.” Binding contract Abinsk Electro Metallurgical Works (AEMZ) has chosen a Sund Birsta KN Delta binding machine with double wire feeding for its mill in Abinsk, Russia.

5G speed trials The Russian mobile network operator MTS has achieved speeds of 2.1Gbps in its latest mmWave 5G trials, using Nokia’s AirScale mmWave radio equipment and a Samsung Galaxy handset. MTS’ test network predominantly uses the mmWave spectrum, due to a shortage of the mid-range spectrum in Russia. All four of Russia’s mobile network operators are expected to launch 5G services using the mmWave spectrum. In a speech about the testing, Inessa Galaktionova, MTS’s first vice president for telecommunications, said: “Not long ago we were testing 5G equipment the size of a closet, and today, together with our partners, we showcased a 5G smartphone operating under typical user conditions that externally is indistinguishable from a regular 4G device.”

The new machine will allow the production of one-ton, 12m bundles with ten wraps, offering cost-effective handling to new foreign markets for AEMZ. The binding machine will be equipped with binding and twisting heads driven by electrical motors instead of the traditional hydraulic drives. S S A Sund Birsta KN Delta binding machine has been chosen by Abinsk Electro Metallurgical Works for its mill in Abinsk, Russia

The first of Russia’s commercial 5G services are expected to begin in early 2020.

Non-metallic armor installation

Prysmian successfully completed thesubmarine layingoperations Group has

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power transport capacity and reduced losses, which requires innovation in new or improved materials. “Another big market driver is sustainability, which, in turn often involves economic considerations as well. “The goal is to make terrestrial and submarine cables with increasingly fewer metals, as well as make them recyclable.” Cable changes Prysmian Group’s BU Multimedia Solutions now offers its range of E-Series central tube cables with increased tensile strength in compact designs. The company has also upgraded the pulling strength of its metallic armored central tube designs in the E-Series from 1,000N to 3,000N, and for the non-metallic cable types from 1,500N to 3,000N. Central tube cables with 24 fibers have traditionally needed a larger diameter than smaller fiber counts. Prysmian now offers the same tube diameter for two to 24 fibers, giving a reduced diameter for higher fiber counts. “With upgraded central tube cables our customers receive outstanding quality in compact designs at a reasonable price, hence greater savings on investments — especially [as] the installation of fiber optic

for the Greek Evia, Andros and Tinos islands’ interconnections.

Prysmian developed, supplied and installed the first cable with armor made from a composite material based on high modulus synthetic fibers. Water installation, performed by Prysmian’s Cable Enterprise , reached 550m in the link between the islands Evia and Andros. The synthetic armor can be 30 percent lighter than steel, and allows installations down to 3,000m. The same technology will be used in 2020 for the Crete-Peloponnese submarine interconnection project, which requires an installation depth of about 1,000m. Installation risks will be minimized, compared with using metallic armored cables. “This product is the outcome of seven years of [research and development] activities, including modeling, materials selection and cable testing,” explained Srinivas Siripurapu, EVP and chief R&D officer, Prysmian Group. Stefano Franchi Bononi, R&D projects director in Milan, Italy said in an article: “Market drivers for submarine cables mean a move to lighter weight, higher Increased depth makes more routes available for subsea cables.

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cables is carried out in the long term,” said Tayfun Eren, product manager at Prysmian Group, BU Multimedia Solutions. The range includes both non-metallic and metallic armored central tube cables. The gel-filled non-metallic central tube cable types E08a, E10a, E20, E22 and E25 offer an increased tensile strength from 1,500N to 3,000N. The E09a non-metallic cable has been upgraded to 4,000N and the E14a and E16a non-metallic cable models to 2,000N. The E-series of steel tape armored central tube cables with the cable types E06a, E07a, E19 and E21 also has a tensile strength of 3,000N. In addition, E08a, E10a, E20, E22 and E25 cables will have the same diameter for fiber counts of between two and 24. Safe tracing Beha-Amprobe has introduced the AT- 6010-EUR advanced wire tracer kit, designed to make it easier and safer to locate energized and de-energized wires, breakers and fuses. The kit comprises two modules: the transmitter is connected to the circuit, and the receiver detects the signal in the wires or cables behind walls, ceilings and floors. The AT-6010-TE transmitter module works on circuits up to 600V AC/DC in category I, II and III electrical environments. The AT-6010-RE receiver module features a large LCD screen with an energized/de-

energized indicator, a two-digit readout and a bar graph showing signal strength; a sound indicator to determine wire location; and sensitivity adjustment. The receiver’s tip sensor can be used to trace wires in corners, tight spaces and junction boxes.

S S The AT-6010-EUR advanced wire tracer kit

The transmitter features a high signal mode for general tracing and a loop mode designed specifically for locating shorts, as well as two optimal tracing frequencies that are automatically activated based on the detected voltage. Amongst other applications, the Beha- Amprobe AT-6010-EUR can be used for finding breaks, open circuits and shorts; tracing shielded wires, or wires in metal conduit; tracing low-voltage wires and data cables; and for sorting bundled wires. The AT-6010-EUR is compatible with the Beha-Amprobe CT-400-EUR signal clamp accessory for inducing a tracing signal on the cable when there is no access to bare conductors.

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