Dynamic export cables

Dynamic export cables

Equinor’s October decision to go ahead with the 88-megawatt Hywind Tampen project was big news for floating offshore wind, a nascent technology that experts believe could end up dwarfing today’s bottom-fixed market.

But floating wind poses a challenge: How do you connect a floating platform to a static cable on the seabed? The answer is to use “dynamic export cables” that besides carrying high voltages also move with the platform.

“Whilst some high-voltage cables above 66 kilovolts have been used in offshore oil and gas projects, dynamic export cables at 220 or 275 kilovolts don’t exist on the market,” said James Young, chief technology officer at JDR, one of several firms now working to solve the issue.