South Korea’s Taihan Cable & Solution Co. (Taihan Cable), has received a $68.6 million order for extra high-voltage cable for use in Britain.

Per a Yonhap News Agency report, Taihan Cable was awarded the deal from Balfour Beatty plc, a London-based infrastructure construction contractor, to supply 400 kV high-voltage cables and cable accessories for a cable replacement project in the eastern part of Britain. The amount of cable was not specified, but the report said that it will help the company win additional cable orders in Europe where countries are expected to increase their investments in the power grid infrastructure to achieve their carbon neutrality targets.

In November 2023, Taihan Cable signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the British firm for partnership in the power transmission and distribution business. The deal is part of their initial agreement. Under the MoU, the two companies agreed to jointly participate in $270 million worth of cable installation and replacement projects scheduled through 2030 in Britain, the release said.

Since the MOU was entered, Taihan Cable has been chosen for other projects with Balfour Beatty. Those include a $75 million 420kV high-voltage power grid project in Sweden in December 2022 and an additional $27 million 400 kV high-voltage power grid project in the U.K.

Taihan, which was established as the first electric wire company in South Korea, is a member of the Hoban Group

The previously reported sale by Nokia of Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) was finalized on Dec. 31, 2024, with the business now officially owned by the French state.

Per multiple reports, the Nokia sale was to the French State, represented by the Agence des participations de l’État. Nokia has a 20% shareholding and board representation during the transition, with plans for the French State to acquire the remaining interest.

A subsidiary of Alcatel and later Alcatel/Lucent before its 2016 acquisition by Nokia in 2015, ASN notes at its website that the business has supplied 750,000 km of optical submarine systems globally

Nexans reported two separate contracts, one from TenneT worth up to as much as €1 billion, and a second from Sweden to connect an island to the mainland.

A press release said that one contract is for a new project from Germany’s TenneT, a Dutch-German transmission system operator, that was secured under a 2023 framework agreement. The contract calls for Nexans to handle the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of 250 km of HVDC XLPE cables for the LanWin 2 offshore grid connection system.

The system is being designed to transmit 2 GW of offshore wind energy from the German North Sea to the mainland. Commissioning of the project is expected in 2030. This project highlights Nexans’s ongoing partnership with TenneT, following the BalWin3 and LanWin4 projects in March 2024, to develop the infrastructure essential to support Germany and Europe’s renewable energy future.

Nexans also announced that it has secured a big order from Swedish transmission system operator Svenska kraftnät to deliver 320 km of high-voltage subsea and onshore cables for the Gotland Connection project in Sweden. The project calls for the 220 kV HVAC subsea and onshore cables to strengthen the electricity supply between Gotland—the largest island of Sweden— and mainland Sweden.

The transition to a carbon-neutral industry on Gotland is expected to drive a sharp increase in electricity demand by the early 2030s.Under this contract, Nexans will supply and install the cable systems, which will be manufactured at several of the company’s plants. The project is scheduled for completion by mid-2030 and reinforces Nexans’ position as a trusted leader in energy infrastructure solutions.

Italy’s Danieli has provided a tailor-made roughing mill featuring shiftable stands for a Nippon Steel plant in Kamaishi, Japan.

Per a Danieli press release, the new mill can provide twist-free rolling of 130- to 168-mm billets at 130 tph. The installation of the shiftable roughing mill, in a narrow space, increased billet charging flexibility and efficiency. Production of the billets will be used to produce wire rod at the same facility.

The Kamaishi mill produces special steel wire rod in mild and hard steel wire, low-alloy steel, spring steel, special melt wire and bearing steel grades. The main equipment supplied includes two mono-groove vertical and horizontal housingless stands. Both stands are individually shiftable by an electric actuator to feed alternately each line of the three-strand wire rod mill with 122-mm-square bars, in diamond configuration as per original feeder.

Roll cartridges are automatically extracted to the nearby roll shop, where a compact Danieli roll-changing robot and an electric roll tilter operate. A dedicated, three-strand pinch roll, spare cartridge units, special steel grooved rolls, and roller guides completed the project supply.

Danieli previously supplied Nippon Steel with several advanced technologies and systems for long products.

LS Cable & System (LS Cable) has completed a high-voltage direct current transmission (HVDC) submarine cable project on a volcanic island in South Korea.

Per the company, the Wando-Jeju project was an undersea power grid of about 90 km that connects Wando, Jeollanam-do and the island of Jeju. The project, worth $160 million, is the largest LS Cable submarine cable project since the Jeju 2-linked contract in 2009.

The project was the first in the country to use voltage-type HVDC technology, which allows for real-time control of the direction of electricity supply and quick restoration of electricity during system failures, the release said. The submarine cables allow electricity to be supplied in a more stable manner by increasing the amount of electricity that is available between Jeju and the inland.

The company notes that only some companies in Europe and Japan have commercialized HVDC submarine cables worldwide, and LS Cable is the only one in South Korea. “The completion of the three-connection in Jeju is the achievement of Team Korea, which has been achieved through cooperation between domestic companies such as LS Cable, LS Marine Solution, and construction companies, centering on KEPCO,” said Kim Hyung-won, head of LS Cable & System’s energy and construction business division.