SuperMarineOne

Project Description

Ireland has one of the best offshore renewable energy resources in the world. The development of adequate infrastructure and technology for offshore grid and interconnection will become critical to support growth of this sector. Superconducting cables have a tremendous size advantage, lower total electrical losses for high capacity transmission, minimised environmental impact and increased public acceptance leading to an overall more sustainable transmission of electric energy. The applications of superconducting technology to offshore projects are highly promising. However, the behaviour of those cable systems under marine environments have not been widely studied nor publicly reported. The awareness or acceptance as a mature technology among decision and policy makers is small. The survival and serviceability are among the critical aspects of submarine superconducting cable systems (SCSs) and will be initially investigated in this innovative SuperMarineOne project. The suitable SCSs will first be selected by reviewing technology and materials. Based on the density of potential offshore energy projects in Ireland's seas, typical offshore sites will be selected for collecting data of metocean and seabed. Numerical models of SCSs operating on seabed and as dynamic power cables, and simulation procedure for installation phases including loading, landing and laying, will be developed for analysing survival and serviceability and proposing necessary protection/strengthening methods. Wavelets and nonstationary variation - two advanced techniques for efficient analysis of complex systems, will be introduced. The project also aims at planning for future development by investigating methods, required facility and safety procedures for physical testing of SCSs.