LS Cable completes HVDC submarine plant in Donghae

Asia's largest high-voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine cable plant (pictured) will be built in Donghae, Gangwon Province. LS Cable & System announced on Tuesday that it held a completion ceremony for the 4th subsea building at its Donghae project site. The HVDC-dedicated plant, which began construction in July 2021 and cost about 190 billion won, has a total floor area of 34,816 square meters, including a high-rise vulcanization tower (VCV tower) with a height of 172 meters.

The HVDC-dedicated plant is taller than the VCV tower (approximately 160 meters) of Taihan Cable & Solution’s Dangjin plant, which was the tallest among domestic VCV towers. It is reported to be the world's tallest among VCV towers for HVDC submarine cable production. The reason why VCV towers are built so high is that high-temperature polyethylene (PE) of over 100 degrees Celsius is used when manufacturing submarine cables that are tens of kilometers long. Working on them in a horizontal state can cause sagging or breakage of cables, so the production line needs to be maintained vertically as much as possible.

LS Cable & System plans to use this site as a stepping stone for winning orders for global HVDC projects. An official from LS Cable & System said, "Recently, with the prevalence of carbon-neutral policies around the world, HVDC projects worth trillions of won are being promoted in Europe and elsewhere. We have been preparing to expand our business through factory expansion and the acquisition of shares in KT Submarine." LS Cable & System succeeded in winning orders for HVDC cables worth a total of 280 billion won last year.

“The completion of the HVDC-dedicated plant will be an accelerator for growth in the era of energy conversion and the rise of the power industry,” LS Cable & System CEO Koo Bon-gyu said at the completion ceremony. About 100 people attended the completion ceremony, including LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-eun, LS Corp CEO Myung Roe-hyun, and LS Cable & System CEO Koo Bon-gyu.


will@donga.com