COVER STORY
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PIONEERING CABLES
A Norwegian cable company grows its capacity and proves its commitment to electrifi cation, Nicola Brittain reports
N
orway-based Nexans has just fi nished celebrating the launch of an expansion to its high voltage subsea
cable plant in Halden, Norway. The company argues that this build is a demonstration of its commitment to electrifying the future. The plant construction began in
November 2021 and incorporates some of the most advanced cable production technology worldwide according to the company, meaning it can deliver subsea cables (primarily for wind turbines) of up to 525kV for HVDC and 420kV for HVAC.
A NEW TOWER The 34,000 square metre expansion more than doubles the capacity of the plant for HVDC extruded cables, it also features a 152.89 metre tall second extrusion tower which will allow the plant to insulate four cables
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simultaneously in addition to the two existing lines – the tower is currently Norway’s tallest building. This build will help the group
meet the increasing demand for electrifi cation, especially in the American and European markets driven by a record project backlog, a €1.7 billion contract with Tennet, and a €1.43bn contract for the EuroAsia Interconnector project. This new strategic asset will also directly and indirectly create hundreds of jobs worldwide. The tower was built at a diff icult
time, during lockdown, in which according to one of the factory managers, “suppliers were going bust, there were order bottlenecks and the world faced general global economic uncertainty.” He added, “we are very proud to have fi nished the build on time when facing such diff icult economic conditions.”
THE COMPANY STREAMLINES CAPACITY In recent times the company has streamlined its activities to focus on the supply of electric cables, accessories and associated services across the entire value chain from the power generation phase through power transmission and distribution to the end customer. To date, the company has completed
over 443 subsea interconnection projects representing 46GW of installed capacity or 10,680km of subsea cables. For off shore wind, Nexans has either manufactured or installed subsea export cables for 42 windfarms globally, representing 64.3GW of off shore wind capacity. IPE attended the expansion launch
and caught up with the leader of the company’s generation and transmission team and executive vice
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