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.
Like the Internet of today, telegraph cables were the communication tool that made the Victorian world a little smaller.
Laid along the Atlantic Ocean floor in 1858, running from Ireland to Nova Scotia in Canada, it provided near-instant communication between two halves of the globe.
And it proved powerful when Dr. Hawley Crippen attempted to escape the law following the murder of his wife…
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
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. And this doesn’t include projects that involve mobilization, delays and operational difficulties.
One splice alone can be 12-24 hours to repair and requires the ship to remain stationary with the cable suspended in water. All the while, cables and equipment are vulnerable to damage by other vessels and fishing gear. It’s a delicate feat that requires speed, precise navigation and station keeping in some of the most extreme ocean environments.
Cable handling requires specialized equipment for measuring, deployment and tension. The last thing anyone needs during this process is to be dealing with difficult equipment. Subsea cable hardware should provide secure, fast assembly and have the ability to be installed on cables with unlimited attachment possibilities.
If your subsea cable hardware is not working to increase performance, your operational costs are definitely on the rise.
Watch how your cable hardware should work for you:
Discover our innovative, tool-free hardware with common-sense solutions to anticipate your needs.
Subsea umbilical cables are subject to corrosion, hydrostatic pressure, high internal pressures and near-freezing temperatures. Stresses from movement in a riser, a floating rig, and the ocean currents themselves are common. Because of these conditions, testing your ocean cable hardware is necessary and should be mandatory. Understanding failure mechanisms is the best way to anticipate problems before they occur.
Everyone and everything, from oil and gas operators to offshore personnel and the environment, benefits from avoiding subsea equipment failures. That’s why the industry spends huge sums every year on inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) programs. Taking a more intelligent approach to IMR planning can also deliver lower risks and lower costs.
Rather than sticking to rigid service and inspection intervals, operators can use equipment condition, process and other field data, along with historic performance information on shared industry databases, to predict deterioration and intervene only when necessary. This optimized way of managing IMR is part of today’s holistic, risk-based approach to integrity management for subsea and many other types of assets, on and offshore.
Read more from growthmarkets-oil.com and how effective risk assessment can be the difference between triumph and disaster.
Submarine power cables are going to be critical to bring renewable energy on shore as this industry grows. And this industry is going to grow fast as many non-utility purchasers, such as IKEA, Facebook and Google, are jumping on the bandwagon and beginning to invest in wind power.
It’s imperative that these growing energy companies use products that assure the ease of installation, provide a long service life, reduce lead-time and survive in harsh environments. Choosing the right subsea hardware ultimately can make the difference between early failure and long-term survivability.
Read more about our thoughts on off shore wind.
Want to know more about market growth for wind energy as leading U.S. brands lock in low prices? Read this great article.
Did you know that submarine cables are at most risk of damage during installation? Stresses placed upon the cable as it is installed can manifest and cause catastrophic failures to your system. The time it takes to repair such a cable can vary from weeks to many months and becomes a costly endeavor.
Using a test lab can assist you to identify potential problems prior to use by performing extensive laboratory testing.
Gaining insight to the interaction between the strength member and attached hardware or the complete cable assembly is especially valuable when you have so much at risk.
Want to read more about the importance of submarine cables? Check out this great article at Subsea Cables UK.
Equipping ROVs is a growing industry for us, so it’s exciting to read about America’s very first Bachelor of Science in Maritime Technology program, offered by Northwestern Michigan College, and their special Falcon ROV. The Falcon is the most widely used ROV in the industry and students are most likely to come across in their working life.
We’re thrilled to learn that this program is basically in our backyard, in Lake Michigan, and that it allows students to fit and study an array of sophisticated equipment.
The aim of the BSc program is for students to become proficient in applied technology for the marine industry onshore and offshore.
Their studies cover the calibration, deployment, operation, maintenance and management of marine technology assets, including data collection, processing and mapping. Read more…
Subsea equipment (umbilicals, risers, flowlines) and pipelines are generally one third of all expenditure of a total project. Equipment purchases add up quickly and in order to save costs, companies will be looking for hardware with proven results – hardware that increases efficiency and quickly realizes a significant return on investment.
Statoil CEO Eldar Sætre recently stated that over the last ten years, the cost of subsea developments has increased by 250 percent. According to analysts Douglas-Westwood, subsea spending will continue to rise, and there are projects and locations to watch out for. Read more…
If you are looking to lower costs and improve the economic outcomes of deepwater projects, you should consider the hydrodynamic efficiency of your subsea hardware and how that impacts your fuel costs.
It’s everyone’s favorite pastime, but no one can predict what the oil price might be—it’s an uncontrollable aspect that can and will again dramatically impact this business over time. But what can and is being implemented by most companies is the overriding imperative to take back control where it can, and that largely means reducing project costs. Read more…
