Nexans, a French manufacturer of subsea power cables, has unveiled a €90 million investment to build new and upgrade existing facilities to support the growth of offshore wind in Europe.
The investment will begin in 2025 and run through 2026 when the work is planned to be completed.
The funding will support the construction of a new 53-meter tower for the insulation of onshore cables at Nexans’ plant in Charleroi, Belgium, and will allow for the production of 3,000-square-meter 525 kV HVDC onshore cables necessary to support TenneT’s three grid connection projects, BalWin 3, LanWin 4, and LanWin 2 under the frame agreement signed last year.
The investment will also include upgrades to the cable manufacturing process such as a new stranding line, a degassing system specifically designed for HVDC cables, and a new aluminum drawing line to increase the company’s volume of aluminum wire production.
While the majority of the investment will be directed at upgrading its manufacturing plant in Charleroi, Nexans’ other facilities will also get a boost, said the company, including a new HVDC lab with a hall specifically built for 525 kV HVDC testing at its Calais facility in France, and a new injection press at the firm’s power accessories facility in collaboration with teams in Erembodegem, Belgium.
The Charleroi plant will also connect to the La Sambre channel which should allow Nexans to reduce transportation CO2 emissions by 85%t. The city of Charleroi has already begun a project to establish a multimodal transportation platform in this area, the company said.
“The ability to produce land cables up to 525kV is a game-changing capability that will enable us to drive the transition forward for years to come. We are looking forward to completing this critical upgrade in our infrastructure to keep pace with the ever-increasing electricity demand globally”, said Pascal Radue , EVP of Nexans’ Generation and Transmission Business Group.