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Consolidated Financial Report |
DIRECTORS’ REPORT
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS DURING THE YEAR
NEW INDUSTRIAL PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES
During 2014, the Prysmian Group entered into numerous
contracts, many of which in the
Energy Projects
operating
segment.
In the
submarine interconnections
business, the Group
concluded agreements for the construction of cable systems
for major new projects in different parts of the world. In 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.
In the same month, a contract was signed worth approxi-
mately 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.
Early in August, the Group announced it had won a new
contract worth approximately Euro 95 million from IPTO (In-
dependent Power Transmission Operator), the transmission
system operator of the Greek electricity grid, for the inter-
connection 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 extension to the other Cyclades
islands (Paros, Mykonos, Tinos).
Another contract, worth approximately Euro 64 million, was
awarded in December by TEIAS, a Turkish power transmis-
sion 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 Dar-
danelles 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-competi-
tive 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.
Lastly, just before Christmas 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.
During the year the Group also won new orders in the business
of submarine connections for
offshore wind farms
. In 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 im-
portance, 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).
In 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 approxi-
mately Euro 250 million). The project involves the construc-
tion 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
Numerous contracts in the Energy Projects segment, both for submarine and onshore
connections. Intense activity not only commercially but also on the technological
innovation front.