AmpaCity, continuously innovating to accelerate the electrification of the future Opening of Nexans' global innovation centre

On Wednesday, June 29, 2022, Nexans' global innovation centre was officially inaugurated in the presence of Christophe Guérin, CEO of Nexans, Jérôme Fournier, Corporate Vice President of Innovation, Services and Growth, partners and employees.

Symbolic of Nexans' ambition to become a pure electric player, AmpaCity brings together a hundred or so engineers, researchers and technicians working on the electricity of the future. Nexans has invested 20 million euros in this new 6,000 m2 R&D centre.

Innovation, a priority

New digital services, data-driven grid management tools, integration of recycled materials: this division brings together the competences of the ecosystem to develop concrete innovations for safer, more sustainable and carbon-free electricity. A key issue when electricity demand could increase by up to 40% by 2040.

A key issue when electricity demand could increase by 40% by 2040.

Thanks to the know-how of its employees brought together in AmpaCity and its global innovation network, the company has set itself the objectives of being able to distribute more electricity by increasing the power supplied, improving the reliability, resilience and safety of electricity grids, speeding up installation projects and ensuring competitiveness and accessibility to electricity by developing, for example, interconnections between countries or even reducing the impact on the environment, in particular through the continued use of new materials.

A meaningful name
Ampacity is the maximum current that can pass through a cable, ensuring reliability and safety. A perfect illustration of the main challenges Nexans faces.

Concrete innovations
The challenges of sustainable electrification in the world require the involvement of the best experts to solve the problems. From anywhere, thanks to digital and connected tools, Nexans aims to anticipate risks, monitor the state of the networks and be able to make decisions taking into account all parameters and their interactions.

• Leading cable operators and solutions
  Nexans is the first cable and solutions operator to combine its expertise with that of asset management specialists to form a holistic vision in which the vision of the management or digital expert is enriched by the irreplaceable experience of the operator and the power of digital technologies.
   
• The fire safety revolution
  The accelerating electrification of our societies is also accompanied by an increasing spread of fires. Today, a fire related to an electrical fault occurs every two minutes in Europe. Nexans is revolutionising the safety of buildings and homes with its new electrical cables. The cables will be more fire resistant than today's, more efficient, and will remain functional when exposed to over 1,000°C, continuing to supply power to safety devices such as alarms, fire doors or emergency lighting during a fire.

• Anticipating major outages
  Correct network monitoring is important in the fight against outages. With its innovative Grid Sensing technology, Nexans will be able to accurately monitor the network, and locate any faults in its cables, enabling a fast and accurate response without having to audit the entire network to locate the fault.
   

• More energy from superconductors
  Nexans' role does not end with the transmission of power from generation sources. After generation and transmission, electricity must be distributed in the heart of cities and towns, through highly urbanized, suburban or rural areas. Nexans is pioneering distribution with its superconducting cable.
  Powerful and unobtrusive, it can carry up to 3 GW of electricity in a diameter of less than 20 cm, the equivalent power of three nuclear reactors. The cable's outer sheath can withstand up to 500,000 volts - more than the 200,000 volts that high-voltage pylons can withstand.

AmpaCity demonstrates Nexans' ambition to become a pure player in electrification and to respond to the challenges of an electrified world that will require:

1. Increasing the distribution of electricity;

2. Improving the reliability, resilience and safety of electricity grids to better sustain increased demand, many of which date back to the 1950s-1960s;

3. Accelerating installation projects and ensuring the competitiveness and accessibility of electricity through the development of networks and interconnections between countries;

4. Reduce the impact on the environment and promote decarbonisation to combat global warming and act as a responsible partner, in particular through the continued use of innovative materials.

In AmpaCity, Nexans is inventing new efficient, sustainable and recyclable materials. Nexans is firmly committed to recycling 100% of its production waste by 2030, while increasing the quality, properties and longevity of the materials used.

Welcome to AmpaCity, Nexans' global innovation hub in Lyon, France.