French cablemaker Nexans has revealed
it will form a power cable joint venture
with Shandong Yanggu. Nexans will hold
75%, with 25% held by Shandong Yanggu.
Shandong Yanggu has threemanufacturing
facilities producing extra and high
voltage, medium voltage, and low voltage
power cables and recently completed
a major investment program to enhance
its industrial capability. Created in 1985,
it is one of the largest power cable
manufacturers in China.
The Chinese firm generated revenue
of CNY1.3 billion, or €150 million, in 2010.
The goal is to boost revenue to about
€200 million within three to five years,
Nexans chief executive Frederic Vincent
said. “In particular, Nexans expects to
double income from high-voltage and
ultra-high voltage cables.”
The transaction is expected to take six
to eight months to complete.
The CEO also commented that Nexans,
which dropped plans to buy Dutch cable
maker Draka in November, remains open
to further acquisitions.
Nexans forms venture
with Shandong Yanggu
Copper theft has always been a problem.
Perfect for conducting electricity, it was
ideally suited to support the telegraph
boom of the mid-19th century, but
stringing mile after mile of copper wire
across open space brought the now
inevitable security headaches.
Records at the University of Glamorgan,
Wales reveal that a report from
the British government in the 1860s
complained that copper’s “value
to marauders renders it inapplicable
for open air lines”, so iron wire had
to be used instead. It had only one-tenth
the conductivity of copper, but its scrap
value was far lower.
Copper wire was restricted to environments
that were especially testing and in which
only copper would do. Submarine
cables, which had to carry signals across
extreme distances under very testing
conditions, were of the finest copper.
They could be - the ocean depths
offered protection against theft.
Copper theft
is nothing new
Carl Modigh has been appointed
the new President of Habia Cable AB,
one of Europe’s largest manufacturers
of custom-designed cables, and
a subsidiary of the Beijer Alma Group.
During the spring, Carl Modigh has been
acting president of Habia Cable, prior
to which he was CFO of the company
for four years. Earlier, he also worked
for Beijer Alma AB as head of business
development.
New president for Habia
Cable
EUROPE NEWS
Spain-based Isolux Corsan has
secured an engineering, procurement
and construction contract worth
$205.52m for the construction of a 428km
long 400kV electricity transmission line for
the Kenya Electricity Transmission Co.
The power line will connect to the
national grid, transporting the power
generated from a 310MW power plant
under development by Lake Turkana
Wind Power.
Various financial institutions will support
the construction of the wind power plant
estimated to cost about 617 € m ($893m).
Construction of the power line, which is
supported by various financial institutions
led by the African Development Bank, is
scheduled to begin later this year and to
be operational before the end of 2013.
400kV electricity
transmission line in Kenya
Picture : Graham Briggs
wiredInUSA July
wiredInUSA July
23
22
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