AMSC’s former largest customer, China’s Sinovel Wind Group Co. Ltd. (Sinovel) has agreed to pay it $57.5 million in two installments to settle a dispute over stealing its technology. It was also fined $1.5 million by a federal judge on July 9, concluding a key stage in a long-fought case of IT theft that stems back as far as 2011.

U.S.-based AMSC reports that it has entered into an agreement with ComEd, which delivers electricity to more than four million customers in northern Illinois, to deploy its high-temperature superconductor technology for use in an upgrade to its electric grid in Chicago.

A press release said that the project is funded, in part, by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate initiative to secure the nation’s electric grid against extreme weather or other catastrophic events. It is structured as a cost-sharing arrangement among AMSC, ComEd and DHS. The agreement, which includes commercial terms and is subject to DHS approval, will mark the first installation of AMSC’s Resilient Electric Grid (REG) system in Chicago, and it is expected to become a permanent part of Chicago’s power grid.

The REG system uses AMSC’s high temperature superconductor technology and, under the terms of the agreement between AMSC and ComEd, will link existing electric power infrastructure within the city, the release said. The key component is AMSC’s Amperium® wire, which it noted combines with other sub-system design elements to increase the reliability, redundancy, and resiliency of urban power grids, greatly reducing the impact of equipment failure due to aging, cyber threats, physical disasters, or weather-related events.

The Prysmian Group has won a contract from utility SP Power Assets Limited, worth an estimated €33 million, for the design, supply, installation and commissioning of two high-voltage power cable systems to connect the Rangoon and Paya Lebar substations in Singapore.

A press release said that the power transmission system will require 44 km of HVAC (High Voltage Alternating Current) underground 2000 sq-mm 230 kV cables with a seamless corrugated aluminum sheath and related high-voltage accessories. Cable and accessories will be supplied by the Chinese subsidiary through its recently opened state-of-the-art factory which offers the APAC utilities market a wide range of high and extra high voltage cable technologies, as well as medium voltage solutions and fire protection cables.

The EPCI type contract will highlight the Group ability to provide a comprehensive package of services and to deliver a complete cable system solution including installation in a 50-m deep tunnel in water-cooled troughs and supply of auxiliary cables (telephone and LV cables), fiber optic cable and DTS (Distributed Temperature Sensor) for distributed temperature sensing of power cables. Delivery and commissioning of this project is scheduled for 2020.

“This is a strategic project for Prysmian, marking the Group’s involvement for the first time in many years in a project of this size in the APAC region, which also involves the supply of locally manufactured products and solutions. We have secured this EHV project in Singapore thanks to our extensive knowledge, our high-performance cable solutions and our new cable factory in China, reflecting SP Power Assets Limited’s confidence in Prysmian capabilities in the ASEAN region,” said Hakan Ozmen, EVP Projects, Prysmian Group.

“We are proud to be contributing to this important project. This collaboration demonstrates once more the extremely high quality and state-of-the-art technology of our products and underground cable system solutions,”  said Federico Corbellini, ASEAN high-voltage business director.  

U.K.-based JDR Cable Systems (JDR) reports that it has  won a multi-million pound contract to supply inter-array cables and termination work for Ørsted’s record-breaking, 1.4 GW offshore wind farm, Hornsea Project Two.

A press release said that, when operational in 2022, the wind farm will supply electricity to over 1.3 million homes, and surpass its sister project Hornsea One, as the world’s largest offshore wind farm. The contract calls for JDR, part of Poland’s TFKable Group, to supply 100 km of inter-array cables that will be assembled in JDR’s Hartlepool facility. The inter-array cables link the wind farm turbines together, and carry the power to an offshore substation, which converts it to a higher voltage for transmission to shore.

The project, the release said, is Ørsted’s first in the U.K. to use 66 kV for its array cables, having used 33kV for previous projects. Using cables with a higher voltage helps to reduce electrical losses during transmission.

“This contract builds on experience from previous projects including Race Bank offshore wind farm, which we opened earlier this year, and Hornsea Project One, currently in construction,” said Patrick Harnett, the procurement and construction director for the project. “As our wind farm projects have grown in size, and distance from shore, so too have the contracts we place within the supply chain. The technology we use is also changing as we innovate to build these projects at massively lower cost of electricity into the U.K.’s grid.”

JDR CEO Richard Turner said that, “Hornsea Project Two ... will be built at the lowest ever price seen in the U.K.”

South Korea’s SMS Group has won a contract from Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO)—the fifth largest steel producer in the world and the largest in South Korea—to modernize its existing wire rod mill at its Pohang works.

A press release said that the project calls for the replacement of some equipment along the mill (existing descaler and additional one on the rolling mill), a new cropping shear, a shiftable water cooling line, pouring reel machines with walking beam conveyor, cooling fans and hoods assuring in-line treatment of coils. The plant now produces 540,000 tons per year of wire rod and bar-in-coils for automotive applications from 14 up to 42 mm, with coils up to two tons.

The project, the release said, will allow POSCO to widen coiled round products up to 55 mm, and smaller products rolled at 22 m per second. The mechanical areas will be connected with a scratch-free conveying system that, combined with the automation package supplied by SMS group, will grant POSCO a quality improvement on the rolled surface of the bars and a better coil shape and formation. Further implementations are the off-line simulation process with CCT® (Controlled Cooling Technology) and quick changing system of the water cooling line in less than five minutes to grant better plant efficiency. These features will give POSCO the possibility to better supply the automotive and special steels market.

“This latest modernization project further underlines SMS group’s upgrade expertise and its position as a leading supplier of rolling mills for quality steels in all size ranges,” the release said.

The SMS Group, a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry, has some 14,000 employees. The sole owner of the holding company SMS GmbH is the Familie Weiss Foundation.

Radix Wire has been acquired by High Road Capital, a U.S. private equity fund that has completed 44 such investments in companies based in the U.S. and Canada.

A press release said that the company, which manufactures high-temperature and fire-resistant wire and cable, will now be called Radix Wire & Cable (RWC). Founded in 1944, the company’s brands include Sil-A-Blend®, DuraBlend®, DuraFlex® and the first 550°C UL-listed wire.

South Korea’s LS Cable & System (LSCS) reports that it will join a project in Oman being financed by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

A press release said that the project, to build a broadband communications network in Oman, is led by its government and state-run mobile operator Oman BroadBand. This marks the first time that the broadband project is being carried out at a national level.
The release said that by 2021, the first stage of the project, worth approximately $178 million, will be completed in key cities, including Muscat, the capital and largest city of Oman. By 2030, the network will be expanded to other cities in the second stage of the project.

Per an AIIB report, the project will roll out a fiber optic network to more than 400,000 homes/premises by the end of 2021. The first phase calls for some 4,100 km of fiber optic cables and some 9,500 km of drop cables. When completed, 80% of Muscat will be fiber-ready for connection with the gigabit-capable optical networks. “The project will improve Oman’s infrastructure in the information and communication technology sector, thereby increasing the attractiveness of Oman as a destination for manufacturing business and strategic logistics services,” it said.

LSCS will lead the design of the communications network, the engineering and supplying fiber optic cables, the release said. It noted that LCSC has carried out large projects near Qatar in the Middle East, with support from related organizations, including bodies such as KOTRA, a South Korean trade organization, and the Korea Information & Communication Contractors Association.