Dubai Opens State-of-the-Art High-Voltage Power Cable Factory

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The highest industrial tower in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region is a feature of a new high-voltage cable manufacturing plant at Jebel Ali in Dubai. The 148-meter extrusion tower dominates the new plant, which was built by Ducab-HV, a joint venture of the governments of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The new plant will manufacture cable systems ranging from 66 kilovolts (kV) to 400 kV, which covers the highest voltage currently in use in the region. Ducab-HV will also market product from the factory, which required an investment of $136 million and covers a site of 30,000 square meters. When operating at full capacity, the plant will create 130 jobs.

This is the first dedicated high-voltage cable manufacturing plant in the region and will increase Dubal Cable Company's (Ducab) annual production capacity by 15,000 tons. The project will also assist the United Arab Emirates' economy by alleviating the need to import a key industrial product.

The chairman of Ducab and Ducab-HV, Ahmad Al Shaikh, said that Ducab-HV products will cover the highest voltages used in the GCC, which will enable the company's power utility partners and customers to source vital energy infrastructure cables from a local supplier.

As the center piece of the project the extrusion tower contains a series of clean rooms, in addition to the extrusion equipment, to prevent any contamination during the production process.

Ducab-HV CEO John Vail said that the project offered the latest in high-voltage technology and that the advanced plant was designed to ensure that the cables are manufactured to the stringent quality standards demanded both regionally and internationally. He added that all products will be rigorously tested in the state-of-the-art laboratory, which is a specialized facility that also gives the capability for advanced research and development.

Ducab was established in 1979 and is owned 50/50 by the governments of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The company supplies a range of high-quality power cables and accessories to customers in 40 countries. Currently, it has a cooper rod plant and a PVC compounding facility and manufactures more than 110,000 tons of high-, medium- and low-voltage cables annually at three plants in the UAE.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.