Borealis organises New York “Energy Infrastructure Symposium 2011”

Borealis will stage the Energy Infrastructure Symposium 2011 for an invited audience in New York City from October 4-5, 2011. Industry experts will discuss how to meet today's challenges for improving and adapting the electric grid infrastructure, in front of an audience of asset managers from utilities, test institute representatives, senior management of wire and cable producers and academics.

Explaining the background to the event, Marc Hubert, Vice President for Borealis Wire & Cable, says, “To meet the nation's ambitious energy policy goals, our industry must not only explore new methods of generating electric energy, but also find innovative ways to transform the existing grid such that it can deliver this energy to customers in a reliable, secure and economical way.” He adds that the Energy Infrastructure Symposium 2011 will provide an excellent forum for experts to debate this major challenge, which advanced societies are required to meet now, to ensure a sustainable energy supply for generations to come.

At the symposium, hosted at The Standard Hotel in Manhattan, industry experts will highlight today’s challenges in the interconnection of electric power infrastructure. Presentations will cover such subjects as the future energy mix, the challenges of integration of renewable energy in the existing power infrastructure, offshore power transmission from a cable maker’s perspective, the performance and reliability of the current power infrastructure, challenges of undergrounding high voltage and extra high voltage cables, and how smart grids will impact on technology and infrastructure.

Symposium participants will also have the opportunity to tour Borealis’ state of the art compounding site in Port Murray, New Jersey which serves customers in North and South America. This stand-alone compounding facility, dedicated to Wire and Cable production specialises in medium and high voltage insulations, semi-conductive and automotive cable grades.

Borealis Compounds Inc. also acts as a distributor for products manufactured by other Borealis plants. The Energy Infrastructure Symposium 2011 is a key part of a global programme of events organised by Borealis. The Wire & Cable Academy global concept was initiated three years ago by Borealis and Borouge—a joint venture between Borealis and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

The objective of Borealis and Borouge is to facilitate knowledge sharing between their key value chain stakeholders as well as to enhance industry standards and support future developments of innovative Wire & Cable solutions. There are now several academies around the world with programmes tailored to each region. Events have already been staged in Brazil and Russia while more are planned in China (led by Borouge) and South Africa in November.