Prysmian wins $44m Ausgrid contract

Prysmian has been awarded a contract worth AU$44m for 132 kV underground high-voltage cables for the North Shore cable upgrade project by Ausgrid. The award comes on the back of a separate smaller related contract (‘Engadine’) awarded in September 2013 worth approximately AU$8m.

These projects form part of Ausgrid’s network plans wherein cables and equipment installed about 40 years ago are being replaced. The areas are: the Willoughby-Lindfield-Castle Cove area on Sydney’s North Shore and the Engadine area. The contracts comprise design, manufacture, supply, civil works, installation and test of 132 kV XLPE underground cables for both projects.

Production will involve multiple Prysmian locations: China will supply approximately 105 km in total of 132 kV cable, China and the Netherlands will supply joints and outdoor terminations, and Prysmian Australia’s Liverpool and Dee Why plants will supply bonding and fibre-optic communications cables, respectively. The Engadine project is currently in installation phase with completion scheduled for June 2014, after which works on the North Shore cable upgrade project will begin.

“This new contract has a strategic importance for Prysmian. It underlines our long-standing leading position as a major supplier of an extensive range of products to power utilities, telecommunication carriers, electrical wholesalers and contractors, OEMs, the mining industry and petrochemical facilities,” says Frederick Persson CEO of Prysmian Group in Australia & New Zealand.

Australia represents a major market for the group, with a number of projects currently ongoing and already accomplished. These include ‘Basslink’, the Victoria-Tasmania submarine HVDC interconnector, the NBN project for the supply of fibre-optic cables for the development of the new National Broadband Network, the Pluto, Gorgon, Wheatstone, Australia Pacific and Queensland Curtis LNG projects for the supply of power cables for the production of liquefied natural gas, among many others.

“The group is strongly committed to support the development of smarter and greener power grids in the growing Asia-Pacific markets and worldwide, and is currently involved in some of the most important power transmission cable projects,” added Marcello Del Brenna, CEO of Prysmian Powerlink