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| LS Cable & System employees check out power cables manufactured at the company's Donghae plant in Gangwon Province. / Courtesy of LS Cable & System |
By Baek Byung-yeul
LS Cable & System has made a clean sweep of submarine cable orders in Taiwan as it won its third order to supply its cables for an offshore wind-power project there, the cable maker said Tuesday.
The company inked the deal with Jan De Nul Group, Belgium's construction and maintenance provider for maritime infrastructure, to supply its submarine cables for the wind farm on the western coast of Miaoli County in Taiwan.
"We will supply about 130 kilometers of submarine cables to the wind farm," the company official said, adding the series of contracts in Taiwan proved the company's competence in the power cable market because it edged out its European and Japanese competitors.
Though the company said it cannot reveal exact numbers, the official added the three contract orders there totaled 200 billion won ($170 million).
As part of Taiwan's plan to shut down nuclear power plants by 2025, it has set a renewable energy target of 20 percent, from its current 5 percent. Under the plan it is constructing more than 10 offshore wind plants and LS C&S has won all three submarine cable orders that have been issued so far.
LS C&S made inroads into Taiwan's offshore wind farm business after inking a deal to supply its cables to German wind-power company wpd in January.
It also secured an 89 million euro ($100 million) deal in early July with Danish state-run energy company Orsted to provide submarine cables for the offshore wind farm in Changhua County, scheduled for completion in 2022.
Compared to power cables used for onshore wind farms, the ones for offshore wind farms have more technical challenges. It said only a handful of cable makers including itself can produce submarine cables that meet requirements.
"As Taiwan's submarine cable market has witnessed a rapid growth, it has become a battlefield between major cable makers in Europe and Japan," Myung Roe-hyun, CEO of the company, said. "The series of contracts we have secured there mean a lot as the company became a submarine cable provider, edging out its competitors."
