Better subsea power connection systems will help tidal energy expand renewable potential

LONDON July 28th 2009

VerdErg, a UK supplier to the industry, has been the subsea connection business for 30 years with the aim of reducing the carbon foot print of the Energy Industry.

VerdErg’s corporate development officer Ron Tucker believes that current advancements in technology will allow “…renewable energy devices to step further into water depths where more energy can be captured. To date, we have seen most systems in shallow water with surface tie-ins of the cables.”

Tucker believes the key to getting renewable energy device to greater depths to capture more energy is building new installation vessels that lay longer and larger cables faster, lowering the cost of installation.

Tucker will be disscussing VerdErg's techniques and developments in this area at the 3rd International Tidal Energy Summit 2009.

Challenges

The industry has faced challenges laying long distance subsea cables from renewable energy projects to areas where they can support large populations. The best options for transmitting power generated renewable energy projects to populated areas had been described as “a Catch-22 scenario” by those who have investigated it, such as Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and the Scottish Executive.

Renewable energy developers need to be confident that the project they fund will be able to connect to the national grid, However, investment in grid infrastructure is reliant on securing a guaranteed level of supply and here-in lies the ‘Catch-22’.

Connecting devices

Tucker believes there will be emergence of many configurations similar to subsea systems.

“These (will) include direct tie-backs where each individual system has its own link to shore or situations where many devices are manifolded into a single cable. These configurations balance different features of redundancy and availability to the grid,” said Tucker.

As far as setting up of electricity transmission network is concerned, the industry is also witnessing the usage of high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission technology.

Issues related to cable installation, grid connection and the challenges moving the industry toward renewable energies will be discussed in detail at the forthcoming 3rd International Tidal Energy Summit 2009.

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Or Contact: Abbie Badcock - abbie@tidaltoday.com or 44 (0)207 375 7581