Big Take
Electric Cable Companies Are Making a Killing From Green Energy
Investors are thrilled—customers and antitrust regulators, not so much
Norway’s tallest building looms above a pine forest near a town of 30,000. The height of a 50-floor skyscraper, the gray, nearly windowless factory makes the biggest electric cables in the world.
The cables are so long there’s only one way to keep them steady to cover them with insulation: dangle them inside this tower, harnessing gravity to keep them straight. Each kilometer weighs more than 50 Ford F-150 trucks and can cost more than €1 million ($1.1 million), including installation. A French company, Nexans SA, manufactures the cables here in Halden on the Swedish border, an 80-minute drive from Oslo.