Japan-headquartered Sumitomo Electric Industries has opened what it describes as the UK’s first HVDC subsea cable factory at the Port of Nigg in Scotland, a £350 million investment that matters to grid operators, offshore wind developers and supply chains because it adds domestic manufacturing capacity for transmission and inter-array cables. The 58,000 square metre plant will make 525kV XLPE HVDC subsea transmission cables and subsea inter-array cables, and will directly create over 200 skilled local jobs.

Sumitomo Electric Industries is a Japan-headquartered electrical and cable manufacturer with more than a century of experience in subsea cable systems, supporting interconnector and offshore wind projects across Europe.

Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport is the designated Scottish freeport zone in which the Port of Nigg site sits, designed to encourage private sector investment and industrial development.

National Grid is a UK electricity transmission owner that has awarded Sumitomo Electric the contract to supply HVDC cable for its Sea Link project.

The £350 million site covers 15 hectares, and the project also supports over 400 jobs across the wider UK supply chain through a train-the-trainer model and operator training in Japan.

Osamu Inoue, president of Sumitomo Electric Industries, said: “This factory will serve as a vital production base supporting the strengthening of the UK’s transmission infrastructure, the expansion of renewable energy deployment, and the delivery of a stable and reliable energy supply for generations to come.” First Minister John Swinney said: “This facility puts Scotland right at the heart of the energy transition and is a strong vote of confidence in our people, skills and engineering excellence.”

Sumitomo says the UK has been one of only two G7 countries without HVDC subsea cable manufacturing capability, as reported by New Civil Engineer.

The factory sits inside a Green Freeport that provides companies special tax relief and customs status, which was backed by £25 million of UK Government seed funding.

Sumitomo Electric told a parliamentary committee that UK transmission operators procure cabling project by project and cannot reserve manufacturing capacity for future projects.

For the sector, domestic HVDC cable production adds a UK supply option for transmission and offshore wind projects, while project-by-project procurement limits how far operators can reserve capacity in advance.

Source: Offshore Energy / New Civil Engineer / STV News / UK Parliament