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Draka Offshore announced that the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) has selected Draka as its subsea power cable provider, and has placed an order for approximately 11,000 meters of 20kV subsea power cable for use in EMEC’s tidal and wave energy test sites in Orkney.
“The selection of Draka for providing subsea power cables further validates the quality and performance of our products in extreme under-water conditions,’’ said Martin Dale, commercial director for subsea for Draka Offshore. The cables will be used to extend the EMEC test sites to create three new grid-connected berths, two at the tidal test site and another at the wave test site. Draka will also provide a range of accessories, and direct load out to a vessel from its Drammen factory.
The announcement explained that EMEC provides test facilities for a wide range of technologies that can tap into the potential of wave and tidal renewable energy. It noted that wave power alone has an estimated global potential of approximately 1,000-10,000 GW, in the same order of magnitude as the world’s electricity consumption, according to the World Offshore Renewable Energy Report 2004-2008 published by UK Renewables. Located in the Orkney Islands of Northern Scotland, the wave and tidal sites are designed to test a range of machines located down to a depth of 50 meters and up to two kilometers from shore,
it said.
“Wave and tidal energy is a very powerful source of renewable energy and a very challenging environment for equipment and systems,’’ said Stuart Baird, EMEC operations director. “We need vendors like Draka who can deliver quality products and services that can stand up to the elements over time.” |
