wiredinUSA November 2014

wiredInUSA - November 2014

INDEX

EUROPE NEWS

InvestBulgaria, the state-run foreign

investment agency, has announced

that the Bulgarian cable maker Zavod

Location Mezdra is to increase output

at its production facility in Mezdra, in

the north-eastern region of the country.

As part of the planned expansion, the

cable producer will employ a further 800

employees at the factory. The amount of

the planned investment was not disclosed.

Zavod Location Mezdra supplies cable to

a number of automotive manufacturers,

including some German and Japanese

car producers. Production at the facility in

Mezdra was launched in early 2008.

The new jobs are to be created by the

end of 2015. Under the plan, Mezdra will

take on new installers, specialists and

supervisors at the plant, which already has

a workforce of over 1,100.

Bulgarian

cable

The World Bank is to lend $150 million to

Albania to help the country overhaul

its state-run power sector and pay for

necessary electricity imports from other

Balkan states.

In a statement, Albania’s energy ministry

explained the loan will also be used to

boost the efficiency of payment collection

from consumers; over the past year 400,000

consumers have had their supply cut off

because of outstanding debts.

The two state companies responsible for

electricity distribution and generation,

mostly through hydroelectric plants, have

already lost $550 million this year, largely

due to unpaid bills.

Onlyaround58percentofallpowerentering

Albania's network reaches its destination,

due to poor infrastructure maintenance

in the country and widespread electricity

theft.

World Bank offers

support

Four new Viking Ocean Cruises ships,

under construction by Fincantieri, will use

Nexans’ safe return to port (SRtP) cable

technology.

Nexans has worked in close cooperation

with Fincantieri to develop a new

generation of high-tech, fire resistant,

SRtP cables based on its nanotechnology.

Some 4,000km of the power and data

cables will be installed in the cruise ships.

Each 473 cabin-ship has a gross tonnage

of 48,000 tons.

In 2010, the International Maritime

Organization (IMO) introduced the

concept of safe return to port (SRtP) for

passenger ships in a directive known as the

MSC 1 Circ 1368. The directive encourages

safe engineering design and advises that

critical systems and services must remain

operational on passenger ships for at least

three hours – long enough to make a safe

return to port and evacuate the ship in the

event of a serious incident.

Cables not only need to be fire resistant,

they must also withstand both physical

shock loads and the thermal shocks

caused by water jets spraying onto hot

cables.

Cables

all at sea

The European Commission has approved

the deal between the UK government and

state-owned French nuclear company EDF

for the construction of the Hinckley C 3.2GW

nuclear power plant in Somerset, England.

However, the move faces opposition.

While Prospect, the largest trade union for

nuclear industry employees, welcomed

‘a positive decision’ by the European

Commission, Greenpeace condemned the

deal as the first ever Commission approval

of a plan “for taxpayers to heavily subsidise

the construction of a nuclear power plant in

the EU.”

Approval of the State Aid case included the

proposed contract for difference, which

provides the developer with an increased

price for the electricity generated by the

plant. An estimated £17 billion of state

subsidy will be available in the form of a

guaranteed ‘strike price’ of £92.5/MHh

(nearly twice the wholesale price in the UK)

and $10 billion in loan guarantees.

The UK’s department of energy and climate

change welcomed the decision, and

reiterated that last October’s agreement in

principle with EDF remains in place.

Nuclear plan gets EU

approval