Re Contract

ABB Ltd
14 March 2001



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For your business and technology editors

ABB wins $60-million order for U.K. underground cable

Fourth major power grid order for London in last eight months

Zurich, Switzerland, March 14, 2001 - ABB has won an order worth US$60 million
from National Grid, the private U.K. power utility, for a 20- kilometer
high-voltage underground power cable to link two substations in London.

The project is part of National Grid's program to upgrade part of the London
power grid. The 400-kilovolt cable is one of the longest high-voltage
underground cables to be installed in Europe. It uses ABB's proven cross-linked
polyethylene (XPLE) insulation technology which requires less maintenance, is
safer to operate and is less hazardous for the environment than conventional
oil- and gas-filled cables. That makes it ideal for use in heavily populated
urban areas. A similar ABB underground cable installation has been in service
in Berlin since 1998.

Under the terms of the contract, ABB will manufacture, install, commission and
test the cable, weighing a total of 2,440 tons and installed in a three-meter
diameter underground tunnel. The project is scheduled for completion before the
end of 2004.

One of the substations in the link, at St John's Wood, is being built by ABB
under a separate US$80-million contract awarded last summer. In 0ctober of last
year, ABB also won a US$30-million order for a London substation at City Road.
Earlier this year, the company was awarded a US$ 34-million order to improve the
power supply to the London Underground.

ABB (www.abb.com) serves manufacturing, process and consumer industries,
utilities, and the oil and, gas markets, with 160,000 employees in more than
100 countries.