Innovation, a leverage point in the energy transition

Breaking new ground in developing competitive and sustainable products

Nexans has decided to focus all its R&D efforts on electrification because that is the market offering the cable industry the greatest potential for development and growth. Its aim is to become a technological leader in this area. This huge commitment to investment will help to improve and increase our offerings in three main areas: customer experience, digital solutions and sustainable development.

Aurora, the flagship of the Nexans fleet

Launched in June 2021, the Aurora is designed to operate in shallow waters not far from the coast, and also to take part in offshore operations. This DP3 cable laying vessel is the most technologically advanced ship in its class. It offers sustainable operational solutions in terms of its silent operation, fuel, energy production and the use of quayside electricity. It can support 10,000 metric tonnes of cable and is equipped with advanced instruments for transporting, laying and protecting cables.

On its agenda: the laying of export cables for offshore wind farms and interconnections around the world such as the Seagreen OWF link in Scotland, the Crete-Aticca interconnection in Greece, or the Empire Offshore Wind project in the United States.

A more circular economy

In partnership with its customers, Nexans is contributing to a sustainable economy through eco-design and life cycle assessments of its products. Identified in the Group’s CSR policy as one of its main goals, the aim of the circular economy approach is to limit the consumption of resources by implementing a closed-loop system for materials and resources:

• increasing the use of recycled materials in products from external or internal sources;
• reducing the quantity of raw materials used in products;
• providing recycling services to customers.

The use of renewable resources in products, such as bio-based materials, remains limited for two main reasons:

• a lack of technical properties to allow cables to meet the rigorous requirements specified in the standards;
• a limited environmental benefit for bio-based products such as bio-polymers. Although they contribute to reducing the impact on global warming or the consumption of resources, these materials put pressure on other environmental indicators (water and energy consumption, water toxicity, etc.).

The strengths of Industry 4.0

Nexans has embraced digitalization at some of its sites by selecting some of its profit drivers and leading factories for a pilot programme. Industry 4.0 offers considerable benefits:

• real-time factory management by using all available data and settings
• improve performance across several levels, like operator security, eliminating non-value added tasks and enhacing energy consumption
• more attractive to younger customers, in particular through the use of virtual reality, a high valuable tool for safety training operators in complex areas such as high voltage;
• it also provides a more qualitative way of working, which challenges to ensure on-site operators are properly qualified.

However, several challenges still exist:

• cultural, ensuring the entire group is on board with digitalization throughout the Group;
• organisational, with changing routines and operating methods;
• performance, with an adaptation of the level and skills of the teams;
• financial, digitalization requires considerable investment. There is rapid return on investment, however, usually in under two years.

An opportunity for eco-design

In other units of the Group, Nexans is promoting eco-design at two levels:

• a qualitative approach, taking successive stages of the life cycle into account;
• a global and quantitative approach based on life cycle assessments in accordance with ISO 14040 and 14044.

By integrating these approaches into the environmental management system, it is also possible to meet the requirements of the ISO 14001:2015 standard; this includes taking aspects of the life cycle into account when designing products.

Product life cycle assessment

The Group assesses the environmental impact of some of its products across all stages of their life cycle, covering every stage from the extraction of raw materials used in their composition to scrapping or recycling, and also covering manufacturing, distribution, installation and use in the process.

In conducting these life cycle assessments (LCA), the Group applies the PEP (Product Environmental Profile) methodology from the PEP ecopassport® programme, of which Nexans France is a founding member. This programme complies with ISO 14025 on type III environmental declarations which provide the results of the product’s environmental impact assessment. The PEP is based on:

• the internationally recognised CML method for calculating LCAs, the indicators of which are compliant with the standards of EN15804 and include 9 environmental indicators (including global warming, scarcity of resources, water and air pollution) and 18 indicators for monitoring energy and water consumption and the reduction of waste, etc.;
• a methodology based on the ISO 14040 series of standards which define the principle, framework, requirements and guidelines for good LCA practices;
• product category rules according to ISO 14025, defined in partnership with other electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers.

Extending the life cycle of products and re-thinking their end-of-life

Nexans’ products which, by their very nature, are associated with sustainable infrastructures, have long life cycles, in the order of several decades. This characteristic means that the subject of their obsolescence is not very relevant to the Group and yet it is nevertheless working to improve the sustainability of its products in order to further minimize their environmental impact.

Through its Innovation and Technology department, and in collaboration with universities and private companies, Nexans is conducting a wide range of tests, in accordance with product standards, to measure, improve and estimate the life cycle of the materials that make up the final cable as well as complete cables.

Thus, each cable has its own ageing protocol for measuring and estimating its longevity: UV, ozone and fluid resistance, salt spray test, thermal ageing, electrical performance in alternating current or direct current at high temperatures, etc.

As part of the circular economy approach, Nexans – a recycling pioneer in the sector – is offering its customers and partners the “Recycling services” offer, a complete solution for recovering and eliminating copper or aluminium cables.

Direct Current Renaissance

The electrification of the world results in a growing demand for long-distance bulk power transmission. Using high-voltage DC (HVDC) has advantages, like less material needed, with less electrical losses. The footprint and cost of HVDC projects is falling relative to the energy transferred. In short, HVDC transmission is becoming much more competitive. Nexans is a leader in the submarine HVDC market and continues to invest in growing its manufacturing and deployment capacity.

The last decade has made fundamental changes in the way that electricity is generated, stored and consumed. Rooftop solar photovoltaics, battery storage including electric vehicle batteries are natively DC. Many commonly-used devices, from phones to LED lighting and electric vehicles, are natively DC. Today, all of these devices depend on adaptors to convert AC to DC. Medium voltage (MV) and low voltage (LV) DC (micro)grids could bring energy savings, improved interoperability, easier renewable energy integration and greater sustainability. 

Read more about Nexans role in developing DC

Our extra-financial performance

Nexans is committed to building a lasting relationship and sharing values with all its stakeholders. The continuous improvement of our results reflects both the robustness of our CSR policy for stakeholders and the intelligent management of our strategy.

Learn more about « A sustainable performance »