Nexans Charleston, a world-class facility uniquely positioned to serve the rapidly expanding U.S. offshore wind market

Nexans announced the opening of the first U.S. based subsea high voltage cable facility today in Charleston, SC, as the only facility in North America with such capability. From the Charleston facility Nexans will deliver subsea cables up to 525kV HVDC and 400kV HVAC, covering the full range of needed products to export cables for offshore wind and subsea interconnectors. The first subsea high voltage export cable will be delivered to certain offshore windfarm in UK in 2022.

The Charleston high voltage subsea facility is part of the comprehensive supply chain that is being developed to support offshore wind in the U.S. market. Energy companies such as Eversource,  Ørsted and Equinor are among those whose projects are expected to accelerate the energy transition in the U.S. Nexans has signed a framework agreement with Eversource and Ørsted to supply the first U.S.-made subsea high voltage export cables for the projects, and preferred supplier agreement with Equinor for the turnkey projects Empire Wind 1 and 2.

Nexans estimated that it will be able to deliver up to 1,000 km of cables for Ørsted and Eversource’s offshore wind farms in North America up until 2027. Meanwhile as the preferred supplier for Equinor’s Empire Wind and early participant of Mayflower, Nexen is well positioned to advance the U.S. energy transition project.

Christopher Guérin, CEO of Nexans, said: "It’s an exciting time for the wind industry in the U.S. as we unleash the potential that offshore renewable energy offers. Our purpose is to ‘electrify the future’ and our expanded facility allows us to do that by combining decades of experience in developing and manufacturing high voltage cables with the newly launched and the most technically advanced cable-laying vessel (CLV) Aurora. We are thrilled to contribute to the wind power revolution in the U.S. and beyond." 

"We are committed to contributing to creating a more sustainable world and the electrification of our facility while helping to achieve the goals of carbon neutrality in U.S. We believe that offshore wind will be key to create a clean energy economy-add job opportunity, stimulate the economy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

Expanded in 2014 to serve the U.S. high-voltage demands, the Charleston facility supports the rapidly growing U.S. offshore wind market. By the end of 2021, Nexans will have created 210 new jobs to support the industry development in South Carolina.

Additionally, Nexans has one of the world's most advanced cable-laying fleets, including the newly commissioned Nexans Aurora and the in-service Skagerrak, all specially designed for complex cable-installation operations in all depths of water, which can be used to connect offshore wind farms as well as interconnect multiple islands, countries and continents. The fleet will be used in offshore wind projects under construction as far west as Scotland and as far east as the US east coast to install undersea high-voltage cables from plants in Charleston in the US and Halden in Norway.