LS Cable has signed a turn-key installation contract worth AUD 72 million with the Department of Electricity of South Australia for 275kV underground transmission cable to be installed in Adelaide, the capital of the state.

LS Cable will install the underground transmission cable to connect Torrens Island, near Adelaide, with a substation on the western outskirts of the city. The total length will be about 18 kilometers and is scheduled for completion in December 2011. This is the biggest high voltage cable project in the southern region of Australia. The country started this project in order to prevent emergency power-downs caused by both an increasing demand for electricity in Adelaide and the city’s deteriorating facilities.

In Australia and New Zealand, power cables are more than 30 years old and the demand for replacement is increasing. In these countries, subterranean cables are preferred compared to the usual aerial cables requiring electric poles because they have less effect on land owners and offer improved safety.

Senior Executive Vice President Myung-Kyu Choi, head of the Cable Business Department in LS Cable, said, “This project is quite meaningful because we won the competition against major European and Japanese cable companies because of our experience of installing high voltage subterranean cables and the reliability of our technical competency.” LS Cable has successfully completed the installation of 66kV cables in Adelaide in 1991, which was the first high voltage cable project in Australia among Korean companies.

Last year, LS Cable also won a 330kV cable project for Snowy-Hydro, the biggest hydroelectric power generation company in Australia, as well as a 220kV cable project from the Department of Electricity in New Zealand.