Sediver opens plant in West Memphis
A new $15 million manufacturing facility that will employ up to 75 workers has opened in West Memphis. Sediver USA, a subsidiary of the Seves Group has started production, according to information released by the company.
The facility will produce toughened glass insulation for high voltage electrical transmission lines across North America.
Sediver products will serve numerous electrical utility customers nationwide and will be used in the proposed Plains and Eastern Clean Line or direct current transmission line for renewable energy. The plant will include a technical center of expertise in insulation technologies, and will provide training for the high voltage community. The plant is Sediver’s first investment in the U.S. is almost 20 years, according to information released.
How long it will take to get the plant operating at full capacity was not released by company officials. Pay ranges for employees were also not disclosed.
Clean Line Energy Partners LLC (Clean Line) announced an agreement in June 2015 between its subsidiary Plains and Eastern Clean Line LLC and Sediver to source 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 agreement designates Sediver as the preferred supplier for the glass insulators for the Plains & Eastern Clean Line, an approximately 700-mile direct current transmission line that will deliver energy from the Oklahoma Panhandle region to customers in Arkansas, Tennessee and other states in the Mid-South and Southeast.