wiredinUSA November 2014

INDEX

Cables all at sea

Nuclear plan gets EU approval

Bulgarian cable

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.

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.

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.

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.

EUROPE NEWS

wiredInUSA - November 2014

wiredInUSA - November 2014

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