We’re excited for the coming year, and to share the enthusiasm and high expectations among industry leaders for steady growth in 2016. RenewableUK, a trade association for wind and marine energy, predicts a busy year ahead for the wind industry. We couldn’t agree more, with over 50 onshore wind projects, and an additional six offshore projects, scheduled to become fully operational in 2016 in the UK alone! That’s more than three times the capacity installed in the UK during 2015. And construction on another five offshore wind projects will begin there during 2016.
These projects will surely bring billions of pounds of investment to British companies across the supply chain and will support nearly 35,000 jobs.
As the wind industry grows, so do the risks. With rapid growth, the need for dependable offshore engineering solutions is imperative. Why? Because one small setback, like damaging a cable during installation, could put an entire wind farm out of service for months and lead to damage to turbine equipment, too. A study done by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement on Offshore Electrical Cable Burial for Wind Farms estimates that 70% of insurance claims for offshore wind farms come from some kind of damage or breakage to the subsea cables.
And a subsea cable isn’t a quick fix either. A typical subsea cable repair equals several days for the ship to reach fault position. It’s 3-5 days once the ship is on site, and even longer if bad weather is involved.
PMI has years of experience in the offshore industries and continues to develop innovative hardware solutions for subsea cables.
To find out more about our subsea cable hardware equipment, schedule an appointment to talk to our experts today.