Wire and cable is a key balance of system (BOS) component in any solar or wind installation. While much of the wire and cable sold for utility-scale installations goes direct, according to several sources, smaller commercial, industrial, institutional and residential installation may very well offer distributors and reps sales opportunities. Greg Donato, executive vice president of sales operations, Omni Cable Corp., Westchester, Pa., says the aluminum wire required in wind farms is typically sold direct, but that Omni Cable recently helped supply a distributor with fiber-optic cable for the control systems used by wind turbines to monitor wind speed, blade angle and other parameters. “When it gets onto the construction side of the business, there are opportunities for distributors,” he says. “Some of those wind farms have a lot of fiber in them.”

Renewables are clearly on the radar screens of wire and cable manufacturers as a growth market opportunity. According to information on its website, General Cable annually sells $250 million in wire and cable to land-based wind farms. The company has also identified offshore wind farms as a growth market and began producing submarine cable last year. While most offshore wind farm are being built less than 10 miles offshore, in many cases future wind farms will be built from 30 miles to 100 miles offshore, dramatically increasing the amount of wire and cable they require.

Solar power presents another sales opportunity for distributors of wire and cable, and according to General Cable a typical solar installation requires four- to five-times the amount of cable as a wind farm. Some wire and cable companies are developing or marketing products specifically for solar or wind applications. For instance, Alpha Wire Corp., Elizabeth, N.J., now sells solar cables and photovoltaic wire, and according to product literature on its website, this wire and cable is “designed for the harsh environments of solar energy applications — the hot and cold of climate extremes, ozone and UV radiation, moisture, oil and direct burial.”

USA Wire & Cable Inc., Austin, Texas, also sells cable designed specifically for the photovoltaics (PV) market. The company recently started marketing connectors for PV installations as well. In a press release announcing a partnership with Amphenol to market that company's HF line of connectors, Hugh Robertson, vice president of sales, USA Wire & Cable, said that marketing agreement would make USA Wire & Cable the largest stocking distributor of H4 Connectors in North America for electrical and solar PV projects.

In addition to opportunities in wind and solar installations, renewed interest in nuclear power may create demand for wire and cable, too. According to presentation materials on General Cable's website, “A nuclear renaissance is expected to begin in 2011 and continue through 2025.” According to its estimates, each new nuclear plant requires $8 million in wire and cable.

Outside of the dismal business conditions in this market segment, it might be tempting to think that it's business as usual, with the same concerns about pricing and consolidation. However, the new opportunities outlined here in the upgrade of the U.S. electrical grid, the smart grid and wind, solar and other renewables may soon offer the wire business a new era of growth.

While the wire and cable industry has always seen more than its share of M&A activity, the past 10 years has been a bit wilder than other decades. Here are some of the largest acquisitions of wire and cable manufacturers during this time period.

• Southwire buys General Cable Corp.'s building wire assets.
• Coleman Cable buys partial assets of Spectrum Wire Corp.

• Superior Essex acquires Belden's North American outside plant (OSP) communications wire and cable business.
• Southwire acquires Alflex Corp. and its line of metal-clad cable and flexible conduit products.

• Essex acquires Nexans' North American magnet wire inventory and certain U.S. customers; the company acquires Nexans' remaining magnet wire facilities in Canada and China in 2007.
• Southwire acquires DeCorp Inc., Hendersonville, Tenn., for its Flatwire technology.
• General Cable Corp. announced plans to buy the high-voltage cable business of Safran SA, Montereau, France.

• Southwire finalized its acquisition of the building wire assets of Essex Electrical Products, including Essex's plant in Florence, Ala.

• General Cable acquired the global wire and cable business of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. which operates as Phelps Dodge International Corp. (PDIC) for approximately $735 million. PDIC was acquired by Freeport as part of the acquisition of Phelps Dodge Corporation in March 2007.
• Coleman Cable Inc. buys Copperfield LLC, Bremen, Ind.

• LS Cable, Seoul, South Korea, acquires Superior Essex Inc., for approximately $900 million.
• In a move to bolster its business in the OEM market, Southwire acquires CableTech Global, a subsidiary of GenTek Inc., based in Mineral Wells, Texas.

• Southwire acquires Maxis, Phoenix, Ariz., a developer of tools and equipment for the management of wire and cable.
• General Cable buys Gepco International Inc., Des Plaines, Ill., to increase its stake in the broadcasting and entertainment markets.
• Platinum Equity, Los Angeles, purchases a controlling interest in the Atlanta-based Alcan Cable division of Rio Tinto. Alcan Cable, a division of the Alcan Engineered Products business, is a manufacturer of aluminum cable products.

• Southwire acquires AIW from Leviton and completes its acquisition of Ford Wire, Roseland, Fla.
• To boost its business in sub-Saharan Africa, General Cable recently acquired a substantial portion of the wire and cable assets of Phoenix Power Cables, Durban, South Africa, a manufacturer of low- and medium-voltage electrical power cables as well as overhead energy transmission and distribution cables.
• General Cable also acquired Beru SAS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BorgWarner France SAS, located in La Ferte Mace, France, a manufacturer of ignition wire harnesses.

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