TT Cables, based in Bosnia-Herzegovina, announced that it has launched a new factory to make low-voltage cables in Macedonia, that will be located at the IGM Industrial Park on Negotino.

A press release said that the company is investing some 20 million euros in the new factory, which covers 20,000 sq m and will have some 90 employees. The factory will have a capacity of approximately 30,000 tons of cables across 30 production lines. It will deploy cutting-edge, highly automated machinery and production lines, allowing for maximum efficiency and scalability.

The industrial park, located in North Macedonia near the highway, railway station and airport, will apply cutting-edge technology and sustainable manufacturing practices. The decision to build the plant stemmed from an assessment of the sales potential for the low-voltage cables (signal, control and instrumentation) in the region and throughout Europe as being significantly greater than our current production capabilities.

The factory will be part of the IT Cables Group, which has more than 400 employees and sells its products in more than 50 countries worldwide. The Group has a distribution network through its subsidiaries in Lithuania (TT Cables Nordic UAB), Austria (TT Cables GmbH Austria), Croatia (TT Kabeli doo Croatia), Serbia (TT Kabeli doo Serbia), Bosnia and Herzegovina (TT Kabeli doo Bosna and Herzegovina), and the next factory in North Macedonia (Kabeks Kables dooel - TT Kabeli Macedonia).

The TT Group, founded in 2007, is based in Široki Brijeg (Bosnia and Herzegovina) where its head office is located as well as its production facilities.

“We are looking forward to the opening of the new factory, which we believe will serve as a stepping-stone for our ambitious plans in the future,” the release said. It added that construction work and machine orders are already underway, and that the new factory is expected to open in the second half of this year, “ushering in a new chapter and era for the entire TT Cables Group.”

Mueller Industries has agreed to acquire Nehring Electrical Works Mueller Industries, Inc., (Nehring) and some of its affiliated firms, for approximately US$575 million. The deal is subject to customary purchase price adjustments.

A press release said that Nehring, based in DeKalb, Illinois, produces wire and cable solutions for the utility, telecom, electrical distribution and OEM markets. Operating through its three business units (Nehring Electrical Works Company, Conex Cable, LLC and Unified Wire & Cable, Inc.), Nehring supplies numerous utilities, REAs, municipalities, telecoms and electrical distribution companies throughout the U.S. For its last fiscal year, Nehring’s annual net sales were approximately US$400 million.

At Nehring’s website, the company notes that it is one of the few U.S.-based companies manufacturing both copper and aluminum conductors. Also, it “has been producing wire and cable products longer than any wire mill in the Midwest.” The company was founded in 1912 by Paul A. Nehring, who invented many of the machines used for covering copper with braided cotton. The family business was sold several times, including to Coleman Cable Company, and had been owned by a private partnership group since 1995.

“This acquisition provides a substantial platform for long-term growth in the electrical and power infrastructure space and complements the other critical infrastructure sectors we support,” said Mueller CEO Greg Christopher. “With its operational culture, which is well aligned with our own, the addition of Nehring leverages our deep expertise in metals, particularly copper and aluminum extrusion, and provides synergies to both companies.”

Based in Collierville, Tennessee, Mueller manufactures copper, brass, aluminum and plastic products. It operates locations throughout the U.S. as well as Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, South Korea, the Middle East and China.

Hitachi Energy reports that it has entered into a multi-year agreement to provide high-voltage cable for what will be a record-sized U.S. project.

A press release said that Hitachi Energy will suppy Pattern Energy for its high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technologies for the SunZia Transmission Project. The link will connect the 3,515-megawatt (MW) SunZia Wind project in New Mexico to Arizona and Western states, which when completed will be one of the world’s largest transmission links delivering renewable energy.

Hitachi Energy will provide its HVDC Light® technology that is designed to efficiently transfer and integrate huge volumes of wind power. The project will stretch more than 885 km into the regional power grid. When complete, SunZia Wind will have a total power capacity of 3,515 MW, enough clean, renewable electricity to provide power to approximately three million Americans. The HVDC link will transmit up to 3,000 MW of this power to Arizona. The HVDC Light system will be the largest voltage source converter (VSC) installation in the United States.

Pattern Energy is one of the world’s largest privately owned developers and operators of renewable energy and transmission projects. Multi-year agreement provides service solutions to the SunZia Transmission Project, linking New Mexico’s wind farms to Arizona’s grid, increasing renewable energy to Western States.

LS Eco Energy (CEO Lee Sang-ho) announced two separate contracts that will see it provide cable to Denmark.

A press release said that one is for the company to supply high-voltage cables to Denmark for a North Sea wind farm project. The order, worth approximately $13 million, is for 220 kV underground cables for use in the 1 GW Thor offshore wind farm, which was described as Denmark’s largest. It will be built 22 km from a North Sea port and is scheduled to be completed in 2027.

The second order was from Energinet, for extra-high voltage cables valued at approximately $30.5 million. Energinet is the Danish national transmission system operator for electricity and natural gas. It operates the 400 kV electricity transmission grid and the gas transmission grid.The company owns and operates also 132 kV and 150 kV power grids (Regionale Net) and the HVDC Great Belt Power Link.

LS Eco Energy, which started exporting cables to Denmark in 2017, has established itself as a leading supplier to the Danish high-voltage cable market along with LS Cable & System. LS Eco Energy was established by LS Cable & System in 1996 for the purpose of entering the domestic market in Vietnam. It has now established itself as a major export company of Vietnam, with exports to Europe and North America accounting for 30% of sales.

 “Demand for electric wires is rapidly increasing worldwide due to the construction of offshore wind farms, replacement of old power grids, and construction of data centers,” said LS Eco Energy CEO Lee Sang-ho

Amphenol Corporation has officially opened a new plant in Vietnam that is expected to be at full operational capacity by the end of this month.

A press release said that Amphenol RF Vietnam Company, based in Ho Chi Minh City, is Amphenol’s fifth division investment. It also is expected to be a strong area, with a revenue target of $20 million by the end of next year “demonstrating their confidence in the Vietnamese market and their commitment to growth.”

Bill Callahan, group general manager - RF, Optics and Broadband Division at Amphenol, explained that the company invested in the new factory because it was impressed by the vibrant community. He lauded the work ethic and determination of the people there. “If you think back when we started five years ago, it was right before Covid, and so the inception was just then. Then Covid struck, and the team here found a way. Without the ability of people to travel from the United States or from anywhere ... the team found a way to make it happen. And that is just a memory that I will never forget.”

Amphenol, which reported 2023 sales of $12.6 billion, had some 95,000 employees at the end of last year.

LS business reports 2 recent contracts,

A subsidiary of Hellenic Cables plans to build a new, cable manufacturing facility in Baltimore, Maryland, that will see an investment of some $300 million.

Per media reports, the subsidiary, Hellenic Cables Americas, will use the plant to manufacture underwater and underground cables for offshore wind and grid modernization applications. The project was estimated to cost about $300 million. Of note, the project is being bolstered by Hellenic Cables Americas successfully getting a transferable tax credit from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) up to $58 million for the project.

Hellenic Cables Americas plans to acquire a 38-acre waterfront property at Wagners Point in Baltimore once its ongoing due diligence process is completed, which could be as soon as this month.

News about the project came from Belgium’s Cenergy Holding, whose industrial portfolio includes Hellenic Cable and Corinth Pipeworks. Hellenic Cable is one of the largest cable producers in Europe, manufacturing power and telecom cables as well as submarine cables.

Japan’s Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) and its subsea cable installation partner, Van Oord Offshore Wind UK (the Sumitomo Electric Van Oord Consortium) has been named the preferred bidder for the proposed Shetland 2 High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) link subsea cable for SSEN Transmission.

A press release said that independent electricity system operator, National Grid ESO, confirmed the need for a second HVDC link from Shetland to the main GB transmission system per “Beyond 2030,” its strategic network plan, “As well as helping enable the connection of three ScotWind offshore wind farm sites adjacent to Shetland, Shetland 2 will also support decarbonization and energy security ambitions, alongside helping further secure Shetland’s future electricity needs.”

Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway. SSEN Transmission is the trading name for Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission, which is responsible for the electricity transmission network in the north of Scotland, maintaining and investing in the high voltage 132kV, 220kV, 275kV and 400kV electricity transmission network.

The Shetland 2 project helped SEI invest in its previously announced U.K. plant in Nigg. Construction of that high-voltage cable plant has begun, and it will have approximately 170 employees. “We now look forward to concluding contractual negotiations with the Sumitomo Electric Van Oord Consortium in the coming week and months,” said SSEN Managing Director Rob McDonald.

Scottish Government Energy Secretary Màiri McAllan said that the Scottish government is allocating up to £500 million to anchor the offshore wind supply-chain in Scotland to ensure our workforce, businesses and communities all benefit from the offshore renewables’ revolution. “This (latest) announcement gives us a further vote of confidence in that process and follows yesterday’s significant investment by the Scottish National Investment Bank in Ardersier Port. The Shetland 2 contract would underpin Sumitomo’s decision to locate its first European cable factory at Nigg and support hundreds of jobs in the Highlands.”

Contractual negotiations with SVOC will continue in advance of entering into Capacity Reservation Agreements and thereafter, Contract Award status for the Shetland 2 scheme later this year. In parallel, SSEN Transmission awaits the GB energy regulator, Ofgem, to conclude the development of the regulatory framework for Shetland 2 and other ‘Beyond 2030’ investments, with a decision on this expected shortly after.

LS GreenLink, a subsidiary of South Korea’s LS Cable & System Ltd. (LS C&S), plans to build a plant to make high-voltage submarine power cables in the U.S., a project that it notes is a part of a long-term strategic plan for global expansion.

A press release did not cite specific details about the size of the plant or the number of employees, but it did note that only one European company now operates a submarine cable factory in the U.S. LS C&S said that it “anticipates leveraging its early entry into the U.S. market to gain a significant competitive advantage while exploring opportunities to build submarine cable plants in Europe and Vietnam as well as in the United States.”

LS Green Link will get a substantial investment tax credit from the United States Department of Energy (DOE) as it has qualified for $99,060,000 in investment tax credits under Section 48C of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. That support will help LS GreenLink “meet the global surge in demand for submarine cables and alleviate the significant supply chain problems in the offshore wind industry in the United States,” said Daniel Ko, who heads LS C&S’s Global Submarine Cable System Division.

LS C&S has over 6,450 employees and 35 subsidiaries in 17 countries. It reported that it is in “the final stages of reviewing the site and the scale of investment for its U.S. high-voltage submarine power cable factory.”

The New England Chapter will hold an educational event that includes a Nov. 7 plant tour of Accel International’s wire drawing plant in Meriden, Connecticut, followed by a networking dinner in the surrounding area.

More details will follow, but from the “small world” files, this is not the first time that the New England Chapter has held such an event. In 2022, at a different plant located in Meriden—RFS Technologies, now owned by Amphenol—the plant tour followed by a networking dinner proved to be quite successful. That tour saw some 50 chapter members and guests see up close the operations of RFS, a global designer and manufacturer of total-package solutions for wireless and broadcast infrastructure. The tour started with a half-hour presentation on the markets that the company serves, followed by the tour, and then by dinner at a waterfront restaurant.

Accel International, Inc., manufactures silver and nickel plated, tin plated copper and copper alloys for the wire and cable market, serving markets such as aerospace, medical, telecommunications and industrial markets.

More details will follow about the event in future issues.

Ohio Valley Chapter (OVC) has a third confirmed speaker for their golf tournament & educational event to be held Aug. 22 at Kensington Golf Club in Canfield, Ohio, and it’s hard to think of one that will draw more attention.

Steve Lebischak of Polara Golf will be discussing the process of developing their scientifically driven, self-correcting golf ball technology. Go to the Polaris website and what words do you see? “Flies straight -- guaranteed.” Is this a golfer’s dream come true? It may or may not work, but it feels as if there is plenty of incentive for golfing enthusiasts to want to attend this OVC presentation. You can find out more about this at
www.polaragolf.com.

As noted above, the OHV event will again couple the golf outing with an educational seminar, where guest speakers speak on current topics and trends in the manufacturing industry. The combination has proved to be quite popular, as golfers have their day, but the educational program offers another dimension.

Joining Lebischak will be scheduled speakers Dave Brambert of Fifth Wire Manufacturing, and Tim Moury and Marco Degasperi of Vericheck