LS C&S wins extensive submarine cable deal worth W200b

LS Cable & System, the world’s third-largest wire and cable maker by sales, said Thursday that it has won a submarine cable supply deal worth around 200 billion won ($183 million), marking the largest deal of the kind in more than 10 years.

Slated to be completed by end-2023, the given project aims at connecting South Jeolla Province’s Wando to Jeju Island by installing some 90 kilometers of high voltage, direct current -- or HVDC -- submarine cable.

LS C&S will be undertaking the entire process from design to completion, in a turnkey format, officials said.

Currently, there are five cable providers across the world that are capable of performing such extensive turnkey projects dealing with submarine cables. Of them, LS C&S is the only Korean company.

The company had carried out a similar project in 2013, when it built a 105-kilometer submarine cable running from Jindo to Jeju Island.

The incoming submarine cable will function to provide stable electricity to meet Jeju’s increased power demand and to transmit Jeju-generated renewable energy to the mainland.

“The latest decision was based on the business capacity (of each bidder) and also took into account the road map to reinforce the nation’s electrical grid,” said Myung Roe-hyun, president of the company.

“We will make the best efforts for this project, with such a sense of mission in mind.”

Short of electromagnetic wave emissions, HVDC cables are considered environmentally friendlier than armor-clad cables.

In light of the growing global tendency toward eco-friendly energy, LS C&S is seeking to build an exclusive HVDC production facility in Gangwon Province’s Donghae next year and to steadily expand its related investments, officials said.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)