Jee Performs Subsea Power Cable Analysis

Jee Ltd announces completion of a Centrica Renewable Energy Ltd contract, which saw the subsea engineering and training firm perform a subsea power cable analysis to potentially reduce future operation and maintenance costs on an offshore wind project.

Centrica Renewable Energy commissioned Jee to identify scenarios that could lead to premature failure of the subsea power cables on the Lynn and Inner Dowsing offshore wind project given different environmental conditions and amounts of seabed scour around the base of the wind turbine foundations.

Using OrcaFlex software, an analysis tool for subsea risers, pipelines, umbilicals and cables, Jee modeled the cables to assess loads and movements that could potentially cause premature failure. The Jee team then provided information about which cable scenarios are at risk of failure. Centrica will use this information to decide if any cables are required to be made safe with remedial works, therefore mitigating the risk of a future failure and avoiding the costs associated with loss of energy production and cable replacement.

Jee performed similar assessments on other operational wind farms such as Barrow and Robin Rigg. On these projects the scope went one step further with ‘real time’ monitoring of cable movements to validate and calibrate the engineering models.

Recently, Jee also provided Technip Offshore Wind Ltd with valuable information about the safest and most efficient way to install the cables on the Gunfleet Sands 3, Borkum West and Westermost Rough  projects, thereby minimizing installation costs and reducing the risk of cable damage during offshore operations.

The Lynn and Inner Dowsing project is two adjacent wind farms built 5km off the Lincolnshire coast, east of Skegness. Together, they have an installed capacity of 194MW, enough power to meet the annual demand of more than 130,000 homes.