EuroWire January 2021

Corporate News

NISCO rolls first bar on Kocks’s largest three-roll RSB 5.0 The Chinese company Nanjing Iron & Steel Co Ltd (NISCO) has modernised its 800,000 t/a medium bar mill, incorporating a reducing and sizing block (RSB®) 500++/4 in 5.0 design by Friedrich Kocks. The RSB 500++/4, which is the largest Kocks three-roll reducing and sizing block to date, operates as the finishing unit for the production of straight bars within a dimensional range from Ø 50 to 160mm. Apart from the RSB 5.0, Kocks is also responsible for the thermo-mechanical rolling process, including five water boxes and full automation package. The low temperature rolling process is applied for sizes up to Ø 130mm. With the modernisation of its medium bar mill, NISCO consolidates and further expands its market share in the SBQ market.

▲ ▲ Kocks RSB 500++ at NISCO

Friedrich Kocks GmbH & Co KG www.kocks.de

Island cable in the sun Nexans will design, manufacture and install a 335km subsea high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable system for Ariadne Interconnection SPSA, owned by the Greek state grid operator IPTO.

Bremen as well as in our subsidiaries around the world. Their achievement made this result possible. “By focusing on technical innovations as well as expanding our global sales and service network and the simultaneous concentration of research, development and production at our location in Bremen, we create the conditions for future, constant growth.” More than 4,000 companies, from all industries, with an annual turnover between ten million and one billion euros were evaluated by the Munich Strategy Group. The Top 100 companies were determined on the basis of their long-term growth and profitability. The for sensor applications. The near-shore sections of the cable, to be installed at water depths down to 100m, will feature an aluminium conductor core with a cross-section of 1,800mm². The deeper sections of the cable, installed at depths down to 1,200m, will have a 1,500mm² cross-section aluminium conductor. The cable will be protected by trenching into the seabed using the Nexans Capjet water jetting system down to 600m water depth. The HVDC cable will be manufactured in the Nexans plant in Holden, Norway, and/or its plant in Futtsu, Japan. It will be installed by one of the company’s own dedicated cable vessels – either Nexans Skagerrak or Nexans Aurora . Nexans has also announced a contract with SSE Renewables to design, manufacture and install high voltage

onshore and offshore export cables for Phase 1 of the Seagreen offshore wind farm, 27km off the Scottish coast. Work will begin this year on what will be the largest offshore wind farm in Scotland. The French oil and gas company Total has a 51 per cent stake in the project. The Nexans facility in Charleston, South Carolina, USA, recently expanded to manufacture HV subsea cables, and will supply three 65km-long offshore export cables. Three 20km onshore export cables will be manufactured at the company’s facility in Charleroi, Belgium. The company expects to use its latest cable laying vessel for the project. Aurora , currently under construction, is scheduled for delivery during the second quarter of 2021. Nexans www.nexans.com

Sikora AG has again ranked among Germany’s 100 fastest growing medium-sized companies, and improved from place 61 to 18. This is the result of a study carried out by the management consultancy Munich Strategy Group. Dr Christian Frank, CEO of Sikora, commented, “I am delighted that we are among the ‘Top 100’ again this year. The award once again shows that we belong to the elite of the German medium-sized companies. We set significant trends and play a leading role in the field of innovative measuring, control, inspection and sorting technologies. I am particularly proud that we worked our way up from rank 61 to rank 18. My special thanks go to our colleagues in The interconnection will link Crete to the electricity network on mainland Greece, providing security of supply and enabling the transition to renewable energy. The cable will span 335km from the Attica region on the Greek mainland to the Herakleion area in Crete. Over the 35-month project, Nexans will provide a 500MW HVDC subsea cable system to form half of the total 1,000 MW bi-pole interconnection. The 500,000V Nexans cable is based on the mass impregnated non-draining (MIND) design for HVDC cable systems and will integrate fibre optic elements

Sikora ranks in top 100

▲ ▲ Dr Christian Frank, CEO of Sikora AG

basis for selection is the performance of the companies during the last five years. Sikora AG www.sikora.net

20

www.read-eurowire.com

January 2021