The island nation of Iceland has more renewable energy than it needs. Great Britain wants to use more power from renewable sources. A 1,000-kilometer submarine power cable could conceivably help Iceland export its surplus renewable power and help Great Britain meet its renewables goals.
All this is possible because of the advantages of high-voltage direct current (HVDC), which makes it more practical to transmit power over long distances via submarine power cables. Electrical grids around the world generally use alternating current (AC) because it’s more economical over short distances.
The problem with AC is it becomes less practical the farther the power has to be transmitted. When power has to be transmitted distances in measuring in the hundreds of kilometers or more, it becomes much more sensible to use high-voltage direct current.
Using HVDC to move lots of power over long distances is extremely helpful in developing nations like China that have rapidly emerging energy demands. But another of the great opportunities for HVDC lies deep below the ocean with subsea power cables.
Long-distance subsea power cables have a host of applications:
- Windfarms located far offshore. Wind is more abundant far away from shore, and many near-shore sites have already been developed. Submarine power cables using HVDC make these remote windfarms practical.
- Subsea electrical grids. Electrical grids beneath the ocean are being developed to improve the productivity of off-shore drilling operations. HVDC could allow them to be powered by production facilities on dry land.
- Metro areas where it’s impractical to build new power plants. In the San Francisco Bay Area, for instance, subsea power cables can extend power across the bay and avoid the need to build new power generating capacity.
This potential sounds awesome until you hear the statistics on how long it takes to repair a damaged submarine power cable. It can be days, weeks or months depending on the location and the severity of the damage.
The rugged reality of deep-ocean engineering is that it only takes one fishing trawler or cargo ship anchor to foul up a deep-sea power transmission plan. That’s why subsea cable protection is so important.
Providing that kind of protection has kept PMI in business for more than four decades, engineering rugged, durable ocean hardware for companies and projects around the globe.
Our deep ocean engineering experience helps enable the world-changing potential of renewable power. No matter how breathtaking the advances in technology, if the power has to be sent through subsea cables, those cables need extra protection that our ocean hardware provides.
Our guide, 6 Ways to Extend Your Subsea Power Cable Life, can provide more insight into increasing the longevity of your subsea cables. Download the free guide today:
We’ve gone in depth before on how cable terminations are used , now we’re going to explain what sets our terminations apart from the competition.
Many current terminations require an epoxy/polish method of installation. There are many disadvantages to using epoxy. If you’re using heat-cured epoxy, it takes a ½ to cure, but you need an oven to cure it. Room temperature epoxy doesn’t need a special oven, but the cure time can be 2-3 hours or more. When researchers are spending days or weeks out on the ocean gathering information, time is of the essence.
Other terminations on the market don’t use epoxy, but require specialized equipment to install or require extensive cable preparation before installation. In addition, many epoxy-less terminations have a higher connector cost.
PMI provides quality epoxy-less terminations for your ROV needs. Here are 5 that the EVERGRIP Helical Gripping Termination is your ideal solution:
- Faster Installation
The EVERGRIP termination is field installable and easily applied – usually in 30 minutes or less.
- No Special Tools Needed
Our product requires no additional tools or cable preparation to install
- Less Down Time
With the EVERGRIP, there is no need to wait for a termination/retermination to cure.
- Strain Relief for Cables
The special helical rod design relieves strain from the cable. We also have BSR solutions for additional strain relief to prolong cable integrity.
- Reuseable
The housing of EVERGRIP can be used – a Retermination Kit comes at a much lower cost than purchasing a new termination
As new challenges are placed on the ROV industry, PMI continues to provide new solutions to meet those challenges. Whether it’s greater strain capabilities, faster installation or higher cost savings, PMI has the capability to develop and supply the highest quality and reliability solutions.
To read more advice on choosing the best subsea terminations for your project, download our checklist:
7 Questions You Should Be Asking About Your Subsea Terminations
Offshore wind and solar energy have been getting all the attention in the quickly growing renewable energy industry, but there’s another player that is beginning to grow strength in the energy market – ocean waves and tidal currents, or “marine energy”. There are vast amounts of energy that are produced within the moving waters of oceans and rivers, and companies working to harness this energy are quickly gaining speed.
While not nearly as large as the main competitors in renewables, marine energy has strong advocates and is quickly gaining steam in the renewable market. About 30 tidal and 45 wave energy companies are at an advanced stage of technological development. One of the biggest issues these companies are facing that has impeded forward movement in the market is the harsh ocean environments – the same thing that makes the industry work in the first place.
The intensity of sea waves is greatly unpredictable and can cause damage throughout the process. Installation of the equipment is often difficult – the areas that are best suited to harness wave and tidal energy are often very hazardous and can be difficult to navigate. As we mentioned in our article on subsea cable vulnerability, subsea cables and hardware have to withstand 14.5 psi per every 10.05 meters they are lowered into the ocean. That coupled with the harsh environment that marine energy succeeds in, makes for a harsh environment for equipment.
PMI has many years of experience engineering proven subsea hardware for companies around the globe. We are excited to be part of the quickly growing marine energy market and are ready to create custom and quality solutions that will withstand harsh and hazardous environments.
Read more about the potential of wave and tidal energy.
The outcome of your project will rely on the quality of your subsea terminations. Make sure to download our guide – 7 Questions You Should Be Asking About Your Subsea Terminations – for a through breakdown of what you should be looking for in your subsea terminations.
As the energy market continues to turn away from oil and gas and towards renewable energy, many companies that specialize in deep ocean engineering, like PMI, are following suit. One company that has made great efforts to shift from oil and gas into the renewable energy field are the Norwegian subsea specialists Ocean Installer. The company’s advanced vessel, the Normand Vision, was used for work on subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF) for major companies in the oil industry. Realizing that their subsea construction support equipment could also be used to work on the underwater cables that connect offshore wind platforms with the power grid, the Normand Vision began working with wind farms, including Germany’s Gode Wind 1 farm. Ocean Installer is not the only subsea construction company to jump on the renewable energy bandwagon. Singapore’s EMAS has also begun adding wind energy projects to their portfolio.
PMI shares the vision of these companies as our energy markets focus on new horizons and is excited to work with customers to solve their cable issues with budget friendly and top quality underwater cable hardware that will maintain cable integrity in every kind of underwater environment.
Read more about Ocean Installer and the Normand Vision.
To find out more about our custom ocean engineered cable hardware equipment, schedule an appointment to talk to our experts today.
For decades, PMI has been extremely focused on building the best products that withstand the extreme environments of the deep ocean. But as we’ve come to work with Offshore Wind and Renewable Energy companies, we understand our product doesn’t have to be used in the deepest and harshest place on our planet, the sea. Instead, rivers in rural areas are a huge focus of the renewable energy field today. And these companies are offering solutions that serve a large portion of the population, who still have no access to electricity.
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We see a great future in the power coursing through our rivers. And, of course, we will be providing cable equipment for these projects as they evolve. If you want to know more about our custom engineered cable hardware equipment, schedule to talk to our experts today.
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India is facing an energy revolution. Despite broad grid coverage, electricity supply in remote areas remains unreliable. For the future, the government is setting a favorable political scenario by introducing solutions for decentralized electrification based on renewable energies, such as photovoltaic (PV), small wind, and explicitly kinetic hydropower.
Companies such as Smart Hydro Power have the advantage of realizing its systems in rural areas, without the requirement for any kind of infrastructure, suitable for running canals, rivers and streams, which inhabit a large portion of India’s typography. At the distribution part of this system, integrated load management introduces an auxiliary productive load – a water purification plant – that utilizes all excess energy and stabilizes the micro grid with variable operation. Through this feature, additional value is brought to the lifestyle of people residing in these communities. Read more…
The main ambition behind the development of the Smart Hydro Power turbine was cost efficiency. Selected materials had to be robust and yet affordable which resulted in a majority of HDPE, aluminum and stainless steel components. The turbine consists of a three bladed rotor, a 5 kW generator, the floating body consisting of a three piece diffusor and two floats.
Watch how it works here: http://www.smart-hydro.de/en/product/turbine.html
Drawing energy from river currents represents a massive untapped source of electricity development. This is especially true in countries like Canada, where rivers and coastal waters provide an enormous range of development options that can provide growth and economic benefits.
Indeed, Canada is emerging as a leader in the global marine renewable energy industry, thanks to supportive government policies, shared infrastructure and strategic research initiatives. These facts provided the backdrop for last week’s Marine Renewables Canada 2015 Annual Conference, where PMI was among the vendors showcasing products and services in the fast-growing renewables market.
At PMI, we’re already reaching out to companies in the offshore-wind sector, and we’re seeing the potential of freshwater rivers to provide clean, renewable energy.
River energy initiatives provide a new twist on age-old technology: the water wheel. New ventures in this sector are exploring placing turbines — much like you’d see on a jet aircraft — deep in the waters of a river. Water turns the blades, generating kinetic energy that can be converted into electricity.
This creates the potential to fix the one major drawback of hydroelectric projects: massive dams that devastate the local environment. Rivers also can provide power around the clock, unlike solar panels.
Canadian businesses and researchers are unlocking the potential of marine renewable energy through innovations and new approaches to key challenges in the lifecycle of wave, tidal and river projects. Solving problems here definitely opens opportunities in the global market.
PMI is proud to be on the cutting edge of this opportunity, supplying contractors with our proven subsea hardware equipment for river energy exploration. At Marine Renewables Canada 2015, we gobbled up knowledge on topics including:
- Technical acceptability — an international effort to reduce technical risk
- Building scale — an international project pipeline
- Supplying the industry — device development
We see a great future in the power coursing through our rivers. And, of course, we will be providing cable equipment for these projects as they evolve. If you want to know more about our custom engineered cable hardware equipment, schedule to talk to our experts today.
Offshore wind might be a new industry, but they are as just as focused on cost efficiencies and simplified solutions as our clients in oil and gas. Those who support them need to supply and produce reliable products that increase performance and lower costs.
Our past customers pushed us to innovate and develop “No Tools Required” custom cable systems, and our in-depth hydrodynamic efficiency studies are helping other companies innovate new systems on existing subsea cable devices and analyze cost saving opportunities.
And we are not alone in our efforts. German industrial group Siemens unveiled a new direct-current solution for connecting offshore wind turbines to the grid which can lower costs by as much as 30%. Read more.
When laying and retrieving submarine cables on the seabed, or performing a cable pull from a vessel to an offshore wind platform, it is often necessary to hold a cable end onboard for up to seven days.
Cables must be anchored firmly onboard to keep them in place, and this anchoring is normally done by means of a cable stopper.
The cable left hanging in the ocean can be exposed to forces so strong there is a distinct possibility of becoming overtensioned. Meanwhile, the vessel’s crew works to keep station by the use of thrusters. If overwhelmed by winds, strong currents and waves, the ship can be driven out of position. The cable left hanging may end up acting as an anchor chain, subject to additional forces and tension.
In these situations, when the wrong cable hardware is used, or is installed incorrectly, the grip of cable tensioners can slip. The heavy cable starts moving unfastened, which is extremely dangerous for the crew, equipment and the vessel.
While the oil, gas and seismic industries have had plenty of experience with these issues, the growing offshore renewable energy companies are looking to manufacturers like PMI Industries for proven experience and products to guide the way.
Engineers who have made the leap from offshore oil to offshore renewable energy have worked with PMI’s products, such as our CABLE-GRIP™ and STOPPER-GRIP™ Terminations, and have found them preferable to typical braided cable grips or cable socks. These terminations are quick and easy to install, robust, and recommended by many cable deck crews.
Our unique cable grips are fully capable of holding cables to the rated breaking strength. Tensile load is transferred gradually from cable to termination with no stress or damage to the cable. And unlike braided stoppers, the helical termination wire design permits installation anywhere along the length of the subsea cable, since it does not require access to the cable end.
7 Questions You Should Be Asking About Your Subsea Terminations
You may not have noticed, but offshore wind is taking our world by storm.
Since offshore wind turbines are transported by ships and barges, they easily reduce logistical challenges that land-based turbines encounter, such as narrow roadways or tunnels. This allows offshore wind developers to build larger turbines capable of producing more electricity.
But what’s really exciting is that offshore wind turbines can float. Several U.S. companies are developing innovative floating offshore wind platforms for use in deep waters. These floating platforms are placed in water depths where bottom-mounted towers are not feasible. Their structures are tethered to the seabed with cables.
And where there are cables, there is cable hardware.
We’ve been creating subsea cable hardware for years. Today our products, which offer protection against cable bending and abrasion, are being adapted for the renewable energy field.
This need for subsea cable hardware will be on the rise right along with the demand of
clean, renewable energy to fulfill the electrical needs of cities along U.S. coastlines. And being located near the east coast, where many of the first offshore wind farms will be developed, means we are a close resource for the industry.
Read more about our thoughts on wind energy.
Here are all top 10 things you didn’t know about offshore wind energy.
Although we are located in the States, we assist companies world-wide with marine cable hardware, deployment, and management. Therefore, we’ve had a front row seat watching Europe position itself as a leader and pioneer in addressing climate change, creating jobs in the offshore wind sector, and reducing fossil fuel imports.
And while offshore wind is years behind onshore wind, the industry is displaying one of the fastest growth rates in the industry. The pace of growth, however, needs to be matched by an equal pace in reducing costs. Success will depend not only on how much it can reduce costs, but also how fast it can reduce costs.
As the U.S. starts installing the foundations for their first offshore wind farm, they will have these same issues to contend with as well as the struggling opposition found along our coast.
Read more about offshore wind here.
Read more about North America’s first offshore wind farm:
Rhode Island’s Deepwater Wind will start installing the foundations for North America’s first offshore wind farm on Monday, a milestone the company says could pave the way for an industry long established in Europe but that is still struggling with opposition in the United States.
