Deployment of Submarine Power Cables

Abstract

With the increased interconnection between lands and integration with power generation from offshore renewable energy, more and more submarine power cables are deployed and in operation. This article discusses the deployment aspects of submarine power cables and investigates the physical considerations, installation and operational issues of high-voltage submarine power cables. Typical problems and lessons learned from actual projects are highlighted. This article builds the discussions on a sister article by the author on ‘Power Cables and Submarine Power Cables’ focusing on the design and technical aspects surrounding submarine power cables. Unless otherwise indicated, the discussion in this article focuses on the transmission level, that is, 110 kV (in the mainland Europe) or 132 kV/275 kV in (Great Britain) and above, for both AC and DC applications. However, the content of this article should largely be valid for lower voltage power cables as well.