Supporting the DNO Industry

The Distribution Network Operators are responsible for the transmission and distribution of Grid power to our homes, commercial premises and industrial sites. They are constantly updating and expanding the Grid to fit the growing demands.

Deborah, Head of Marketing, begins: "Each of the DNOs have their own range of products - the low & medium voltage cables for their section of the Grid -  manufactured in G81 approved factories. It’s tightly controlled and that often means long manufacturing lead times. By us holding stock, including the 11kV triplex, it’s a real advantage to our customers - especially in urgent or critical maintenance."

Ready availability of Waveform and Medium Voltage single, three core, and triplex cables is accompanied by quality assurances with all DNO and MV cables extensively tested for quality and compliance.

Doug, Rail & Utilities Manager, explains: "When you look at what these cables are used for, connecting power supply, that's quite a critical function of the cable. Every cable is designed to do a certain job and we need to make sure it's capable of doing that job. 

Mark, Lab Manager, continues, "So we've got an 11kV triplex cable for the DNO network, we're going to strip the cable down and then test between the conductor and the screen for any breakdown of insulation. So we do this to confirm the cable is to standard as expected by the customer on site, and we can check the whole drum for compliance; it's not just a representative sample of the cable we check, it's the whole drum."

Doug continues, "Having The Cable Lab on site is very very important for me and the cables I'm delivering. I'd much rather have a cable stopped here than going out to site, being installed, and it only finding out that it's not fit-for-purpose when they switch it on."

How the cables get to site is just as important - large drums in long runs, cut to length and delivered by hiab if required.

Deborah concludes, "Our customers can trust us to deliver the cable they need to the right place at the right time – even if that’s a muddy field in the middle of nowhere. It’s about working with our customers to deliver the services and technical expertise they need to make their project run smoothly.