Delivering high-power precision Universal Cables

DELIVERING HIGHPOWER PRECISION

Universal Cables is a global player in the design and manufacture of power cables and high-voltage capacitors. Philip Yorke talked to Amitava Bose, the company’s chief operating officer, about its latest extra-high-voltage insulated cables and the strong growth in infrastructure projects.

Universal Cables Ltd (UCL) was founded in India in 1962 by late Mr M.P. Birla who began by building a modern plant for the manufacture of paper-insulated cables. Since then the company has achieved world-class status and is at the forefront of modern cable technology.

An important milestone was reached in 1977 following collaboration with Asea Brown Boveri Kabel AB of Sweden (now known as ABB Cables), when the company brought the first XLPE cable technology to India. As a result, UCL became a leader in the Indian cable industry with the widest product range and the most advanced cable technology. The company’s comprehensive product range includes low voltage, medium voltage and extra high-voltage XLPE power cables up to 400kV. UCL also produce PVC and rubber insulated power cables up to 11kV grade, designed to contain any number of cores.

In addition, the company manufactures speciality rubber cables for trailing and flexible specifications to suit individual customer requirements. UCL’s precision cables and capacitors are marketed under the well-known global brand: ‘Unistar’. Complete solutions provider

In order to meet the growing demand for ‘extra high-voltage’ cables of 220kV and above, the company has invested heavily in new technology that involves the VCV process at its flagship, Satna Plant. This technological advance was achieved with technical association from the world leader in high-voltage cable technology: Furukawa Electric Co Ltd of Japan. This technical assistance covered cable designing, manufacturing, laying, jointing, testing and installation.

In addition to manufacturing a broad spectrum of high quality cables for a wide variety of applications, the company has a fully operational EPC division to facilitate turnkey contracts for utilities and government projects alike.

Today UCL is able to offer a complete solution package for its customers, especially for underground power transmission projects. Bose said, “As the foremost electrical cable provider in India, we supply to a very broad customer base that includes utilities, shipyards, mining and infrastructure projects as well as many others. We are more flexible and more comprehensive in our product and service offerings than anyone

Amitava Bose, chief operating officer

else and are able to produce cables with voltages from as little as 1.1kV to over 400kV. Our VCV process for Extra high voltage cables is something that very few others can offer.

“We have installed two VCV lines dedicated to extra high voltage cable manufacturing and produce speciality cables in elastomers or rubber that employ PLCV process (Pressurised Liquid Salt Bath Vulcanising). Our flagship cable is our XLPE extra high voltage cable which is now in great demand, especially since overhead conductors are no longer an option and underground is the only way forward; for this application our XLPE cables are the optimal choice.”

Bose added, “We are currently in a very strong position as all the principal cities in India are expanding fast and as a result there is strong growth in the infrastructure sector. Over 60 per cent of our contracts are from government sources with around 40 per cent coming from the private sector. In the last few years there has been a lot of privatisation of government institutions & utilities. As far as our growth is concerned we plan to continue to grow organically because we are in the high-tech, high-end segment. We are not in a position to buy other companies as we are the technology leaders, therefore other companies have nothing to offer us.

“Today we are a world class company with quality certifications such as ISO14001 for environmental management, ISO 9001 for Quality Management, SA8000 for social accountability and OHSAS certification for health and safety issues. The cable manufacturing companies of M.P. Birla group are also involved in the manufacture of optical fibre, optical fibre cables and communication cables.

“Currently we are seeing a boom in infrastructure projects across the Indian sub-continent and we are able to offer a turnkey service for every conceivable contract relating to underground power transmission and distribution including testing and installation.”

Smart cable monitoring

Unlike most of its competitors, UCL can provide a cable monitoring system on demand using ‘Distributed Temperature Monitoring System’. The DTS system uses Optic Fibre Cables and is recognised worldwide as the most reliable technology for monitoring the temperature profile of power transmission and distribution in power cable systems. This advanced system enables the user to monitor and record the real-time temperature profile of the entire power cable route to avoid the development of hot-spots and situations leading to possible ’thermal runaway’ of cables and their joints.

UCL also produces power and control cables to international standards from 1.1kV to 400kV. Both utilities and users find them ideal for power distribution, control systems, utility networks, switching sta-

tions, chemical plants, wind turbines, heavy engineering units etc. The company’s normal PVC insulated cables are suitable for an operating conductor of 700C and HR PVC insulated cables for an operating conductor of 850C. The company has an in-house compounding plant for producing a host of polymers used for cables. n

For further details of Universal Cables’ innovative range of insulated cables, turnkey solutions and customer services visit: www.unistar.co.in