Sumitomo Corporation and J-Power Systems Corporation have won a joint contract to install submarine power cables between the main island of Taiwan and the Penghu Islands, located about 60 km west off the southwestern coast of the main island.
This is a full turnkey project worth about 32 billion yen and involves the installation of six single-core 161kV XLPE power cables with optic fiber. While JPS will manufacture the submarine power cables and auxiliary equipments, Sumitomo Corporation will install the cables and conduct other related civil and engineering work. With a total installation distance of 350 km or longer and an installation depth of up to approximately 150 m, the project will be one of the world’s largest installations of high voltage XLPE submarine cables of this kind.
The Penghu Islands depend primarily on fishing and tourism as their local industries and are blessed with beautiful natural areas. Taiwan is fostering the redevelopment of these islands in order to transform them into “low-carbon islands” to be a model of a future low-carbon society achieved through protection of the island’s nature reserves. As part of these efforts, Taiwan is promoting a shift toward the use of renewable energy by discontinuing the operation of the local diesel power plant and has already constructed a new wind farm. The project to be implemented by Sumitomo Corporation and JPS will play an important role in helping stabilize power supply to the islands during the transition period and is regarded as an essential project for their transformation into these “low-carbon islands.”
In Taiwan, demand for electricity will increase in step with high economic growth, so the Taiwan is also placing importance on energy conservation and on the reduction of environmental impact. Accordingly, multiple projects are being planned in the region to replace aged power plants with more energy-efficient supercritical coal-fired power plants and with natural gas-fired combined cycle power plants. Sumitomo Corporation will proactively implement the project with JPS to contribute to Taiwan’s economic growth and a reduction in environmental impact by capitalizing on its wealth of expertise in the global power business.
[mappress] Subsea World News Staff , December 23, 2011; Image: Sumitomo