Italy's Prysmian takes steps to counter energy supply threat

MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's Prysmian has taken a number of steps to boost its energy efficiency amid fears of a cut-off of gas supplies from Russia, including a switch to LED lighting and using more renewable sources, a company spokesman told Reuters on Thursday.

The world's largest cablemaker, which runs over 100 facilities around the world, has already installed LED lighting in 70% of those plants, saving around 45% of the energy used for lighting, the spokesman said. The remaining plants will be covered by the end of next year.

Prysmian has also installed or is currently installing photovoltaic parks in 10 of its facilities to tap the power of the sun, while it is equipping some pilot factories with mini-wind power plants, the spokesman added.

Other measures, all taken globally, include a progressive replacement of direct current motors with alternating current ones, an increased use of biomass, such as wooden pellets, for heating as well as the recycling of production-generated heat to warm up sanitary water, shopfloors and offices.

Carmaker Stellantis is considering "significant" investments to produce energy for its European facilities as part of its response to risks on Russian natural gas supplies, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Giulio PiovaccariEditing by Federico Maccioni and Keith Weir)