January - In the SURF business, 2014 saw the award of a contract worth approximately USD 24 million from Petrobras, Brazil's national oil company. The contract involved the supply of special Downhole Technology (DHT) cable systems for the offshore oil & gas industry, manufactured at the plants in Bridgewater, NJ (USA) and Cariacica (Brazil) using Brazilian- sourced materials like steel.
February - The Telecom operating segment has seen the execution of many interesting projects and the renewal of ongoing partnerships with all the industry's major global players, as well as intense technological innovation, leading to the introduction of several new products. The FTTH Council Europe Conference, the world's largest event for Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH), held in Stockholm in February, was the occasion for the Group to present its Flextube® technology in response to ever increasing needs for cable miniaturisation; September's ECOC Conference in Cannes (France) saw Prysmian present its innovative WideCap-OM4 multimode fibre whose ability to operate at particularly long wavelengths responds to ever growing demand by data centres.
April - Prysmian was awarded a contract worth more than Euro 250 million by TenneT, the Dutch-German grid operator, for the connection of offshore wind farms in the North Sea to the German mainland. The project, known as BorWin3, involves the construction of a high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable along a route running 29 km onshore and 130 km underwater.
The system, which will connect Emden Ost in Lower Saxony to BorWin Gamma, the offshore converter platform in the "BorWin" cluster, about 120 km north of the German coast, will be installed in natural areas of great environmental importance, both onshore and at sea, including along the Ems estuary. This is the second DC interconnection commissioned by TenneT along this same route (which runs in parallel with that of the DolWin3 project awarded to the Group the year before).
April - Prysmian was awarded a contract worth approximately Euro 30 million by Emirates Holding, a UAE-based construction company for the supply of around 200 km of medium voltage submarine cable to replace power lines supplying the Zakum offshore oil field in Abu Dhabi. As well, in April the Group was awarded a contract worth approximately Euro 40 million with ESB (Ireland) for the "Shannon River Crossing" project to install a power line between Kilpaddoge and Moneypoint on opposite banks of the River Shannon. The project involves the supply and installation of high voltage double-circuit cable, comprising 21 km of submarine cable complete with integrated optical fibre system.
May - Prysmian was awarded a new contract worth approximately Euro 30 million by Ausgrid, a public utility company in the state of New South Wales (Australia), which manages power distribution and transmission grids.
This contract, for high voltage underground cables for the "North Shore cable upgrade" project, comes on the back of the separate smaller "Engadine" contract, worth approximately Euro 5 million, awarded in September 2013. These projects form part of Ausgrid's network upgrade programme, under which it plans to replace cables and equipment installed about 40 years ago.
May - 50Hertz Offshore GmbH, a grid operator in Germany, awarded Prysmian a contract worth up to some Euro 730 million (including options for grid connections for approximately Euro 250 million). The project involves the construction of high voltage submarine cables to connect the West of Adlergrund offshore wind farm cluster in the German Baltic Sea to electricity grids on the German mainland. The cable, running along a route of about 90 km, will connect wind farms some 40 km north-east of Rügen Island with north-east Germany. Marine installation will be performed using the Cable Enterprise DP2 cable-laying ship, specifically equipped to make the most of her particular experience in offshore wind farm installations and to better serve the growing markets in Northern Europe by providing solutions for highly complex installations.
June – The Group announced a new contract, worth approximately Euro 80 million, with KAHRAMAA, the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation, for projects to expand the transmission network. The contract involves the construction of 220 Kv extra high voltage underground cable systems over a distance of 173 km and related network components, as part of stage 2 of Phase XI of the project to expand the power transmission system in Qatar. The project will be managed by the Group's offices in Qatar, using cables manufactured at the plants in Gron (France) and Livorno (Italy).
August - The Group announced it had won a new contract worth approximately Euro 95 million from IPTO (Independent Power Transmission Operator), the transmission system operator of the Greek electricity grid, for the interconnection between Syros, one of the Cyclades islands, and the mainland Greek power transmission system at Lavrion.
The project involves supplying a "turnkey" high voltage cable system for an overall distance of more than 110 km, allowing the island of Syros to be connected to Greece's national grid and paving the way for future extensionto the other Cyclades islands (Paros, Mykonos, Tinos).
October - Prysmian was awarded a new contract for a framework agreement with SBB CFF FFS - Swiss Federal Railways - worth approximately Euro 26 million. The contract involves the supply of approximately 2,800 km of signalling cables to upgrade the entire Swiss rail network's infrastructure. In 2014, the Group also won contracts for other rail infrastructure projects in Italy, France and Denmark.
November - Prysmian announced new investments in 2014 worth more than Euro 40 million to expand production capacity at its plants in Pikkala (Finland) and Arco Felice (Italy). These plants are already the Group's two centres of excellence for the manufacture of high voltage and submarine cables. As a result of these new investments, these two production units will have the capability to manufacture and test high cross-section three-core cables with voltages up to 400 kV AC.
December - A contract, worth approximately Euro 64 million, was awarded by TEIAS, a Turkish power transmission utility, for the construction of a second high voltage submarine power line between Europe and Asia across the Dardanelles strait in Turkey. This second link across the Dardanelles will complement the interconnector that Prysmian Group is currently laying along the same route, under the first contract awarded by TEIAS in September 2012, and will play a strategic role in completing Turkey's power transmission grid. The project will ensure a reliable and cost-competitive power flow from generation sites in Asia to the major consumption centres in European territory, including the congested Istanbul area, by completing the electricity ring around the Sea of Marmara.
December - The Group announced another contract in the high-potential, strategic Asia Pacific market, with the award by NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines) of a project worth around Euro 90 million for a submarine power line between the islands of Negros and Panay. This interconnection is the first stage of a larger development programme by NGCP intended to connect the islands of Cebu, Negros and Panay to each other and to strengthen the country's power transmission network.