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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

France-Based Seves Group To Locate Manufacturing Plant-Testing Facility In West Memphis, Arkansas

06/09/2015
Clean Line Energy Partners announced an agreement between its subsidiary Plains and Eastern Clean Line and Sediver, a business unit of France-based Seves Group, to produce a key component for the Plains & Eastern Clean Line project from a new manufacturing facility and testing laboratory that Sediver will build and operate in West Memphis, Arkansas.

The Plains & Eastern Clean Line will facilitate an approximately half-billion dollar investment in Arkansas and will roughly double the amount of low-cost clean energy the Natural State currently acquires, company officials said. The Plains & Eastern Clean Line is currently under development and based on current estimates, is expected to begin construction as early as 2016.

According to Clean Line Sediver will be its preferred supplier for the glass insulators for the Plains & Eastern Clean Line. “Clean Line selected Sediver because their toughened glass insulator technology ensures the best reliability for direct current transmission line projects and because Sediver committed to manufacturing the insulators at their new state of the art facility in Arkansas.”

Clean Line President Michael Skelly said, “We are thrilled that, at our request, Sediver is opening a manufacturing plant in Arkansas and will be supplying the insulators for our Plains & Eastern Clean Line. This agreement furthers our commitment to purchase as many of the needed materials and services as possible from local companies in the Plains & Eastern Clean Line project area.”

He added, “This project will propel Arkansas forward by bringing new manufacturing and construction jobs and a low-cost renewable energy to the Natural State for years to come.”

Sediver’s new West Memphis “Made in the USA” glass insulator manufacturing plant will be well-positioned to serve utilities across the United States. Sediver’s decision to return operations to the United States and open a manufacturing plant in Arkansas at this time was bolstered by the opportunities brought forth by the Plains & Eastern Clean Line project, company officials said. The company selected West Memphis for its logistical advantage and Arkansas’ qualified work force.

“We are excited to be back in the United States and to be able to contribute to cutting edge renewable energy infrastructure projects like the Plains & Eastern Clean Line,” said Rene Tabouret, CEO of Sediver. He added, “We selected West Memphis for our new assembly plant and testing laboratory to serve the Plains & Eastern Clean Line, along with other American utilities, and the global transmission and distribution industry. The new facility will create over 70 jobs for Arkansans when we begin operations in late 2016.”

In addition to signing the agreement with Sediver, Clean Line has an agreement in place with General Cable to manufacture the conductor for the Plains & Eastern Clean Line at General Cable’s Malvern, Arkansas plant.

Gregory J. Lampert, President/CEO of General Cable North America, said, “Our facility and our associates in Malvern take pride in knowing that the product they make will, in part, stay right in their state of Arkansas for this Clean Line project—improving the infrastructure of their state and strengthening its economy.”

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