Fraunhofer UK, Synaptec and the European Marine Energy Centre have joined forces to address cable and electrical infrastructure integrity in the marine energy industry.
They aim to enhance subsea cable monitoring capabilities by combining emerging optical sensing techniques to enable a smart cable management system that can be used during manufacture, transport, installation and through to end of life.
A feasibility study will make a market assessment looking at the commercial case for the technology alongside a technical review of different distributed fibre sensing techniques.
The project – Offshore Renewable energy Cable Health monitoring using Integrated Distributed Sensor systems (Orchids) – is funded by the UK government’s InnovateUK.
Fraunhofer UK senior researcher Henry Bookey said: “This project is the first step towards a combined smart cable system and will allow us to map out the technical and commercial challenges along the way to the first commercial deployment of this unique system.
“The use of optical fibres found within modern power cables as a cable condition monitor combined with innovative current and voltage sensors is an attractive prospect for offshore infrastructure monitoring.”
Synaptec managing director Philip Orr said: “We firmly believe that making full use of optical fibres that are now intrinsic to power transmission lines and cables will lead to improved instrumentation coverage in a cost-effective way, and to enabling a smarter, more adaptive electricity network.”
Image: subsea cables (EMEC)
