Enhancing power cable standards to improve reliability of offshore windfarms

The growth in UK offshore windfarm construction has revived the medium voltage subsea cable market. The new polymeric subsea cable circuits that are being laid to connect offshore turbines to onshore electricity networks are fundamental to the reliability and thus the cost effectiveness of the windfarm scheme. A significant proportion of the cost of a windfarm scheme is due to the subsea cable circuit and with the cost of cable repairs in bad weather being upwards of €200,000 per day, greater focus must be placed on the long-term reliability of subsea circuits.