Sustainable methods for successful power cable installation

From planning and engineering up to the offshore installation works

Company / Unternehmen: General Cable
Speaker / Referent: Thorsten Schwarz
Position: Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing Turnkey Projects

Main Sponsor of WINDFORCE 2013 and WINDFORCE 2014

Abstract:
Experience and lessons learned from previous projects in the German offshore wind sector shows space for improvement concerning nearly all parts of the technical as well as commercial project phases for cable installation for infield and export cable projects. The process should start with a thorough desk top study for cable route planning. The planning phase is followed by a detailed marine route survey (geophysical and geotechnical) yielding to a burial assessment study to evaluate the best possible and available installation methods as well as installation tools and feasible target burial depth. Recent challenges as improvements for better soil investigations or better prediction of soil fluidization will be addressed. In parallel an engineering process should be started including but not limited to the optimization of park or route layout, taking into consideration potential exclusivity zones, required cable distances and all associated cable handling guidelines. Essential for a successful project realization is the proper management of all cable related interfaces like j-tubes, cable protection systems, scour protection, working spaces for cable handling on offshore platforms and foundation. Recent discussions are leading to a necessary recapitulation of required depth of burial based on permit requirements, 2-K criteria, burial protection index, reasonable endeavor and technically achievable burial depths.