EU bank pushes Prysmian $490m to ramp up cable-making capacity for offshore wind
Offshore wind sector is currently grappling with supply chain shortages of HVDC cables, with manufacturers such as Prysmian booked up many years in advance
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has provided Italian cable-making giant Prysmian with €450m ($490m) in financing to help it ramp up production of submarine cables needed for offshore wind farms.
Prysmian will use the funds from the finance contract to build new production lines for extra-high-voltage submarine cables, lines for high-voltage onshore cables and other technical improvements to existing lines, the EIB said today.
The money will enable Prysmian to double its production capacity for extruded cables at its three factories in Finland, Italy and France from around 2,000km a year to over 4,000km a year.
This is to meet growing demand for renewable energy projects, and offshore wind in particular, said the bank.
“The EIB is the EU climate bank, and this financing shows our commitment to backing clean energy transmission in Europe,” said EIB vice-president Gelsomina Vigliotti.
The agreement will she said help achieve objectives set out in REPowerEU – a package of policies intended to help end dependence on Russian gas supplies – by “mobilising vast resources to address the most pressing energy and environmental challenges.”
Supply of HVDC cabling for offshore wind farms is a key bottleneck for the offshore wind industry, with many cable makers booked until the late 2020s.
The EIB said that bolstering Prysmian’s manufacturing capacity will help to meet EU targets for clean energy transmission via submarine cables and long-distance interconnectors, “improving the integration and efficiency of renewable energy.”
Prysmian CEO Massimo Battaini said the funding “shows how the European Union is aware of the essential role our company has in achieving this transition.”
“The massive offshore expansion which is planned across all European sea basins is not possible without this increase in sub-sea cable production.”
“What we also need is a broad push towards electrification to make any of the upcoming offshore projects attractive to investors,” she said.
“The fact that Prysmian – and others – can deliver the needed subsea cables in increasing quantity is an essential piece of this effort.”