wiredinUSA July 2018

IoT keeps track

Investment in record solar

China’s Silk Road Fund Co is investing in what is believed to be the world’s largest solar thermal plant. The 700MW project is being built by Riyadh-based Acwa Power International and Shanghai Electric Group Co Ltd at a cost of $3.9 billion. “They are investing as one of the shareholders in one of the CSP [concentrated solar project] projects in Dubai,” said Thamer Al Sharhan, managing director at Acwa. The financing gives credibility to Acwa’s ambitions to build one of the world’s leading solar power plants at what was a record low cost when the project won the contract last year. Acwa Power won a tender for the project with a bid to sell power at 7.3 cents per kilowatt-hour, which at the time was a record low for solar. The plant is expected to be commissioned in several stages, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2020. Photo by American Public Power Association on Unsplash

LS Cable and System is believed to be the first in the cable industry to use an inventory management system using Internet of Things (IoT) technology. The system installs communication sensors in products and materials to transmit location and inventory data in real time over the Internet. The information can be accessed using a smartphone. This project, which has undergone a three- year incubation process, was subject to a six-month verification test at LS Cable’s Donghae plant in Gangwon-do, South Korea. LS Cable is planning to market the system to other cable makers, shipbuilding yards, and automotive parts makers, and will also apply the technology to export- bound cable drums, which are highly likely to be stolen during shipment. “As [the system] can track products from factory release until delivery to customers, we are looking forward to expanding the business to global manufacturers and logistics,” said Roe-Hyun Myung, CEO of LS Cable and System.

wiredInUSA - July 2018

36