Nexans has completed a major contract for Schneider Electric to supply ENERGYFLEX® PV cables from its new KEYLIOSTM range for use in the construction of a 43 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) facility in the Puglia region of Italy.

The Cellino San Marco (CSM) project, comprising 580,000 panels, is the largest solar PV project in Italy to reach financial close. Nexans has supplied over 1,000 km of ENERGYFLEX®cables to provide durable, high performance in-field connections between the PV panels and the inverters that will transform the solar energy into usable AC electricity.

ENERGYFLEX®cables are part of Nexans’ comprehensive new KEYLIOSTM range of cables, solutions and services for PV installations.

“We have developed the ENERGYFLEX®concept to meet the growing demand from customers for PV cables that offer exceptional reliability, durability and high-performance, and this major contract for the CSM project is an important breakthrough within this specialized market”, says Rémy Le Fur, Nexans Marketing Manager for renewable energies. “In addition to the technical capability of our cables, the key factor that persuaded Schneider Electric to place this contract with Nexans was our ability to provide a fast response to meet a tight delivery schedule.”

For the CSM project, Nexans has supplied 212 km of cable with a single 6 mm2 copper core and 804 km of cable with a single 10 mm² copper core. The cables comprise both standard ENERGYFLEX® and ENERGYFLEX® One Stripe featuring a coloured red or blue strip for ease of identification. The cables were installed at the site between March and June 2010.

Schneider Electric has also purchased bare Nexans cable with a copper cross-section of 35 mm² to create the underground cable network for the CSM project.

Source: Nexans