Cable manufacturer, Tratos Cavi Spa, has been awarded a multi-million pound contract to supply the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam with low and high voltage cable.
The new EEPCO (Ethiopa Electric and Power Corporation) dam, which is due to be completed in 2017, is located on the River Nile in North Western Ethiopia and will be the largest in Africa with the capacity to hold up to 66bn cubic metres of water and generate 15,100GWh per year. It will feature two powerhouses at the foot of the dam, one either side of the river, housing ten and five turbine units each.
Tratos was awarded the contract by Salini Costruttori Spa as a result of the cable’s ability to work under high ambient temperatures and to meet the customer’s tight schedule.
The environmental impact of the new dam has been a major consideration for all parties, with Salini employing clean technology and looking for suppliers who are able to demonstrate a genuine commitment to reducing their environmental impact. Tratos has long been committed to working with customers to find more environmentally friendly solutions to their cable requirements, producing cables without halogens for example and a cable made using purely hydroelectric energy, as well as keeping its packaging’s carbon footprint as low as possible. Most recently Tratos has been awarded ISO 14001:2004 certification for its Environmental Management Systems.
