LS Cable & System reports that the South Korean company has received certification for its high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable

A press release said that LS Cable & System completed a long-term reliability test of its 500 kV DC cable, monitored by the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute for six months from last October. The institute ultimately recognized the quality of the HVDC cable technology, LS Cable & Systems can now export the product without any other tests, it said.

Including LS Cable & System, there are only five companies that have their own HVDC cable technology. The company began developing the technology in 2005 and won a contract for the country’s first project to construct an HVDC electric power transmission system overland between North Dangjin and Godeok.

Compared with the traditional alternating current (AC) system, HVDC is regarded as more economical in transmitting large amounts of power point-to-point over long distances. HVDC transmission also has lower overall investment costs and lower power losses than AC transmission.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the accumulative market size of the HVDC business will be 70 trillion won by 2020. The release said that with the technology and knowhow the company has accumulated, LS Cable & System witnessed its revenue climb 13% year-over-year to 3.5 trillion won ($3.25 billion) last year. The operating profit also jumped 33% to 111.3 billion won in the cited period.

LS Cable & System is expected to play a bigger role in the near future as the South Korean government recently began to pursue a new northern policy to build a new economic belt with North Korea, the release said. It noted that while South Korea and North Korea have different voltage and current frequency, the company said the HVDC technology can transmit and receive power between them.

The management of the Bekaert Group announced that it plans to close its steel cord plant in Figline e Incisa Valdarno, Italy, and to cease all activities there, while it also expands its joint venture in Brazil.

A press release said that Bekaert has contacted the works council of the Figline site, the unions and authorities about the decision that will result in the loss of 318 employees. The plant makes steel cord for tires, bead wire for tires, wire for high-pressure hoses and half-product wire for other steel cord plants. The release cited the significantly higher cost structure of the Italian plant, which it said “has not been able to generate a financially sustainable performance. ... The management regrets to implement this measure, but sees no other option to safeguard and strengthen its market share in the European rubber reinforcement markets.”

A separate press release said that the management of Belgo Mineira Bekaert Artefatos de Arame Ltda (BMB)—a 55.5/44.5% joint venture of ArcelorMittal and Bekaert that has three plants in Brazil—plans to invest US$33 million to expand their Itaúna plant in Minas Gerais, Brazil. “BMB will install half product capacity and become a fully integrated manufacturing entity,” it said. In addition, 35% tire cord production capacity will be added to enable BMB to grow their current market share in the region.

The expansion, to be spread out over three years, includes construction and infrastructure works and the installation of machines designed and assembled by Bekaert Engineering, the release said. The expansion, it noted, will add some 200 direct and indirect jobs in the area.

Two Italian wire-rod producers, Arlenico SpA and Feralpi Siderurgica SpA, have each ordered a four-stand MEERdrive^®PLUS finishing block from the SMS Group.

A press release said that both wire-rod finishing blocks will be integrated in the companies’ existing plants. The technology, which includes a thermomechanical rolling process and a sophisticated water cooling line for the heavy-duty machine, will enable it to produce wire rod to "the tightest tolerances ever produced."

Arlenico, owned equally by Duferco Italia Holding and Feralpi Siderurgica SpA, a special quality wire rod producer located beside the Lecco Lake, chose the four-stand MEERdrive^®PLUS block to be installed in the existing wire rod line at its Caleotto plant.

Feralpi, a producer of wire rod and rebar, will use the new four-stand block to increase production and rolling speeds as well as the range of product sizes it can offer and enable enhanced final mechanical properties.

Per SMS, MEERdrive^®PLUS is a variant of the MEERdrive^® technology that uses individual drives with small low-voltage motors for each stand. Since all finished sizes are rolled in the block, it is possible to realize "one-family rolling" in the rolling mill reducing the otherwise required mill downtimes for size and ring changing.

For the two announced contracts, the finishing blocks (oval-round-round-round) will be installed after an existing ten-passes block. They are designed to roll wire rod from 4.55 to 27 mm at speeds up to 120 mtps, at a temperature as low as 750 degrees centigrade. Excellent tolerances down to 0.05 millimeters and 50% ovality can be achieved.

"These two new finishing blocks to be supplied to Arlenico and Feralpi are references number eleven and twelve, documenting the long success story of the MEERdrive technology which started with block number one supplied to Sinobras in 2007," the release said.

LS Cable & System is advancing its presence in the Indonesian cable market by setting up a joint corporation with the AG Group, which has a wide multi-sector presence in the country.

A press release said that LS signed an agreement with AG Group to jointly invest $40 million in the construction of cable plants near Jakarta with the aim of completion by 2019. The plants are expected to produce overhead cables for infrastructure and low and medium voltage cables used for construction and plants, generating around $100 million by 2025, LS said.

LS Cable & System CEO Myung said the discussion with AG Group received “a boost” after President Moon Jae-in announced the New Southern Policy during a business forum with Indonesia last November.

The AG Group was described as one of Indonesia’s top 10 companies, active in banking, hotels, construction and resorts.

JDR Cable Systems reports that it has been awarded a contract by McDermott in the Persian Gulf for a project described as the world’s largest offshore oilfield.

A press release said that the contract for the project, owned and operated by Saudi Aramco, includes five thermoplastic umbilicals and hardware connecting new production platforms to the subsea valve skid (SSVS). The umbilicals, which range from 100 to 465 meters in length, will provide hydraulic and electric control to the SSVS.

The contract with McDermott is part of a larger program by Saudi Aramco to replace Safaniya’s aging facilities with electrified platforms to increase the efficiency and production of the field. The field is located 125 miles north of Dhahran in the Arabian Gulf and is estimated to contain 37 billion barrels of oil reserves.

“This is our fifth combined contract for the Safaniya field and truly demonstrates the quality and reliability of our products, said Chris Green, subsea production umbilicals sales manager at JDR, which was acquired last year by TFKable Group. He noted that speed of delivery was a key element of winning the order. The umbilicals will be manufactured at JDR’s plant in Littleport, U.K., with delivery scheduled for Q4 2018.