Chairman Koo Cha-yub of LS Cable and System Co.

LS Cable & System (LS C&S) announced that it has been awarded The Bergen-Linden Corridor Project (BLC) by Public Service Electric & Gas (PSEG), the largest electric and gas service provider in New Jersey, worth approximately $57 million. PSEG serves 2.2 million electric customers and 1.8 million gas customers in the state of New Jersey. 

LS Cable will supply and install a new 345kV underground cable system between Bayway and Bayonne. This project is to deliver electricity to northeast New Jersey to address power shortage issues in the region. Some of key challenges for this project are manufacturing, transporting, and installing new underground cables across the Newark Bay through conduits installed by the horizontal directional drill method. 

This entails manufacturing continuous cables longer than 7,000 feet (2.2km), well-planned logistics for transportation from the manufacturing facility to the work site, and special care and handling of large reels at the site.

Mr. Jae-In Yoon, President of the Business Unit in LS C&S, said, “Our successful experiences in the past and customers’ trust accumulated through previous projects played a decisive role in winning this contract. In November 2014, LS Cable successfully completed the Southern Maryland Reliability Project, a 230kV Patuxent River Crossing Project, with Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative.” 

The BLC project is scheduled to be operational by June 2018.

"Our previous success with U.S. customers, including the Southern Maryland Reliability Project in 2014, played a central role in winning the recent contract," said Yoon Jae-in, president of the company's American branch.

LS Cable said it competed with cable manufacturers from Japan and Europe in the bidding and won.

"Only a few companies were granted licenses from the bidding," said an LS Cable official. "We won the contract with our capability to manufacture continuous cables 2.2 kilometers in length. So far, LS Cable is the only company in Korea to produce 2.2-kilometer cables."

The company representative also said they will manufacture, transport and install the cables, which will cross Newark Bay in New Jersey state.

The project should help the company step up its moves to export underground cables to global markets, including North America and Europe, the company said.

The move is part of LS Group's global strategy to be a business-to-business (B2B) service leader in its key business areas including power transmission cables, undersea cables and electric components. LS previously identified the B2B-based cable business as one of its key growth areas, pledging to make massive investments in the sector.

To that end, LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-kyun has stressed the importance of R&D to achieve global success in the sector. He earlier said, "Our core business strategy starts with R&D."

Previously, the LS Group chairman said the company will invest more than six percent of its annual sales in R&D projects.

LS Cable & System consider itself a total solution provider of electric power and telecommunication industries. 

Founded in 1962, LS Cable & System has been contributing to power and communications network implementation not only in Korea, but also throughout the world and secured a foundation for industrial development by supplying a wide range of industrial specialty cables.

A view of an electric cable being produced and supplied by LS Cable at home in Korea and around the world.(Photos:LS Cable)