With this new investment Repsol reaffirms its longstanding commitment to the wire and cable market and its cable manufacturing clients with whom it has been collaborating since the project's conception. Repsol will build a new plant in Tarragona, with an investment of over €35 M for the manufacture of Cross-linkable Polyethylene (XLPE), a polymer used in cable insulation, located between the conductor and the outer protective layers. The plant will have an annual capacity of 27 kt and is scheduled to start in mid-2024.

The “LSHC” (Linear Short Hyperclean) new technology selected for the plant, from Buss AG, will provide a product with very competitive properties, enabling Repsol to complete its product range for cables by incorporating materials for HV (high voltage) and EHV (extra-high voltage) cables. HV and EHV are the most differentiated segments in cable insulation and would place the company among the leading producers of polyethylene for cables. Repsol, has been continuously growing in the wire and cable polymers market in the last decades, with a wide range of solutions for the different types of cables: energy, communications, and signals. Their XLPE Ready-to-Use products allow manufacturing of any voltage while providing cable manufacturers with a ready-to-extrude compound including polymer, peroxide, and antioxidants. The new range will be made up of seven grades, based on a base polymer that Repsol already produces – low density polyethylene (LDPE) or EBA copolymers – will target the Water-Tree-Retardant (WTR), HV (>66 kV), EVH (>220 kV) and direct current (DC) segments.

Considered a highly specialized material, after startup in June 2024, Repsol's XLPE will be shipped to state-of-the-art cable manufacturing facilities in different parts of the world to ensure the highest international standards in the HV and EHV cables produced.

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