Paris-based Nexans, a provider of power cables, has been awarded a $50 million contract to construct a new underwater power cable for the French island of La Réunion in the Indian Ocean.
The cable link, provided to London- based energy firm EDF Energy, will follow an undersea route along the coast of the island to connect the power production area located at Le Port in the West of the island to the capital city of Saint-Denis.
Nexans is manufacturing two 90 kilovolt underwater XLPE cables, each 10.5 miles in length, to provide a power link of around 100 megawatts. “Each cable will include three phases with copper conductor cross-sections of .6 square inches, resulting in a weight of 132 pounds per meter, for a total of 2,000 metric tons of cable,” according to a Nexans news release.
By choosing the underwater cable route the construction of 12.5 miles of aerial power lines across rugged, steep and mountainous terrain was avoided, according to Nexans.
Nexans is designing and manufacturing the cable as well as installing it at a water depth of 325 feet. The La Réunion cables will be manufactured at the Nexans facility in Halden, Norway.
““We have a long standing working relationship with EDF and won this latest major contract following the successful completion of a number of similar projects,” says Yvon Raak, Nexans Senior Corporate Executive Vice President.
More information about Nexans can be found at www.nexans.com.