French cabling specialist Nexans has announced plans to invest €90m ($99m) to support the growth of offshore wind in Europe. The investment will include the construction of a new, 53-meter tower for the insulation of onshore cables at Nexans’ plant in Charleroi, Belgium, and will allow for the production of 3,000 mm2 525kV HVDC onshore cables necessary to support TenneT’s BalWin 3, LanWin 4, and Lanwin 2 grid projects. The investment will also include upgrades to the cable manufacturing process such as a new stranding line, a degassing system specifically designed for HVDC cables, and a new aluminium drawing line to increase the volume of aluminium wire production. While the majority of the investment will be directed at upgrading its manufacturing plant in Charleroi, Nexans’ other facilities will also get a boost including a new HVDC lab with a hall specifically built for 525kV HVDC testing at its Calais facility in France, and a new injection press at its power accessories facility in collaboration with teams in Erembodegem, Belgium. The investment will begin in 2025 and run through 2026 when the work is completed. The Charleroi plant will also connect to the La Sambre channel which will allow Nexans to reduce transportation CO2 emissions by 85%. The city of Charleroi has already begun a project to establish a multimodal transportation platform in this area. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsBelgium France