- ECG safeguards the continuity of offshore wind operations for stable clean power generation to six million UK homes
In what is believed to be a global industry-first, Proserv’s advanced Electro Cable Guard (ECG™) will de-risk offshore wind operations at the third phase of Dogger Bank Wind Farm by identifying signs of transmission cable failure far earlier, allowing proactive measures to be carried out to avoid costly outages.
Under a contract with DEME, the subsea controls technology specialist will deploy its proprietary game-changing technology at the third phase of what will become the world’s largest wind farm once operational, enhancing asset reliability through earlier failure detection and prevention.
Using unique passive electrical sensors to monitor inter-array cables and terminations, ECG delivers early fault detection that traditional systems overlook, transforming maintenance strategies and strengthening resilience in offshore operations. It works by permanently and synchronously monitoring the combined effect of electrical and mechanical stresses on power cables and terminations to identify failure precursors far earlier, providing real-time insights into transmission system health. Without needing additional power or telecoms infrastructure, it is efficient, easy to deploy, and ideal for offshore cable systems, including both cables and terminations.
Building on the momentum of the global control technology specialist’s growing renewables portfolio, Proserv’s ECG is currently being deployed at Dogger Bank A and B, as well as Hywind Scotland and Hywind Tampen, with additional projects in the pipeline. This next-generation cable monitoring methodology will now be rolled out at Dogger Bank C, a further large-scale project for Proserv’s propriety technology, continuing ECG’s adoption by the offshore wind sector.
Proserv’s Vice President of Renewables, Paul Cook, said: “We are incredibly proud to secure this contract, positioning Proserv as the cable monitoring provider for DEME Offshore across the three phases of the Dogger Bank project, the world’s largest offshore wind farm currently under construction.
“As more offshore wind developments come online, unplanned cable and termination failures are an increasing concern. This latest evolution of our breakthrough ECG system offers substantial cost savings benefits to developers and operators, addressing the widespread issue of cable failures, which account for approximately 80% of wind-farm related insurance claims. Unlike conventional methods, our solution embeds passive optical electrical sensors directly within terminations, eliminating the need for additional power and telecoms infrastructure at each termination point. This enhances efficiency, streamlines data collection, and provides real-time alerts to prevent downtime, reducing repair costs by up to 80% when interventions are planned proactively.”
Located 130km off the Yorkshire coast, the Dogger Bank Wind Farm is being built in three phases with 277 turbines in total (95 at both A and B, and 87 at C), each standing 260m tall – twice the height of the London Eye. Set for completion in 2027, it will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm, powering six million UK homes with clean energy annually.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm Senior Project Manager, Alan Evans, said: “Availability of assets is critical to the efficient supply of renewable electricity into our decarbonised energy system. We’ve been working with DEME and Proserv to pioneer the use of ECG monitoring technology on the first phases of our project, and we look forward to building on this relationship with Dogger Bank C.”
Proserv’s ECG is completely wind farm agnostic with its adaptability spanning new and existing fixed-bottom and floating wind projects. It addresses up to 90% of common cable system failure modes, particularly at cable terminations, a leading cause of where faults arise. Developed in collaboration with Synaptec, a specialist in power system monitoring in which Proserv is a shareholder, the technology combines the firm’s expertise with Proserv’s engineering and integration expertise honed in oil and gas, delivering enhanced reliability for renewable energy infrastructure projects.
Synaptec’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Philip Orr, said: “We’re excited to work with Proserv to lead the way in derisking offshore power generation. The future of clean energy depends on reliably transporting renewable power to the grid, and that means taking action to maximise the resilience of offshore power assets. This project will be a significant milestone in the development of the offshore wind sector, and we are proud to play our part in making it as successful and productive as possible.”
The Dogger Bank C contract will be project managed, engineered and delivered by Proserv’s Great Yarmouth based team, in addition to the work being carried out at the wind farm’s A and B phases.
Vice President, Renewables, Paul Cook provides the feature story on the front cover of this month’s OGV Energy Renewable magazine. Paul gives an exclusive, in-depth interview to the title discussing the future of the offshore wind energy and how Proserv’s unique cable monitoring solutions will play a crucial role in ensuring the sustainable and efficient operation of offshore wind infrastructure, driving the transition to a greener future.
This article is reproduced with the kind permission of OGV Energy. To read the article online, please click here.
To support the presence of our team at #GOW2024 earlier this month, the “Let’s Talk Transition” video podcast featuring our Business Development Manager – Renewables, Callum Maxwell, has been included as a double-page spotlight in the OGV Group’s latest Renewables Quarterly. OGV has very kindly transcribed an in-depth trailer of Callum’s feedback including some of his views on our ECG™ holistic subsea cable monitoring system. The full podcast itself can either be accessed via the QR code printed on the feature pages or in the “Play” section at the top of the OGV website.
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Paul Cook, our Vice President, Renewables has provided a two-page feature thought leader to the latest copy of the US based marine science publication ECO Magazine. The opinion piece focuses on the progress of the ScotWind leasing round, conducted by Crown Estates Scotland in 2022, as these vast and transformative offshore wind developments take early steps forward. Paul pinpoints how their successful rollout is essential to accelerating the likelihood of Scotland meeting its Net Zero emissions goals by 2045. Paul also references our step change ECG™ holistic cable monitoring system that can provide great support to these future offshore wind farms by enabling real-time condition monitoring of cable assets to mitigate failures and faults, enhance power generation capabilities and extend life.
This article is reproduced with the kind permission of ECO Magazine. To read the article online, please click here.
Earlier this summer, we sponsored a key industry event, the Subsea Cable Insurance Workshop, organised and hosted by Global Underwater Hub (GUH), looking at one of offshore wind’s biggest challenges – subsea cable and termination faults and failures. We call this issue the industry’s “elephant in the room”. Here is a summary of a day, spotlighted in GUH’s latest news magazine, when the industry came together to debate a way forward, and to share insights, including the thoughts of our CEO Davis Larssen.
This article is reproduced with the kind permission of Global Underwater Hub. To read the article online, please click here.
Our Vice President, Renewables, Paul Cook has featured on the front cover of the new OGV Renewables Quarterly published by OGV Energy in association with RenewableUK. Paul gives an exclusive interview about the challenges that floating offshore wind could present for dynamic cables and he emphasises that only holistic monitoring, incorporating electrical parameters, can give a true picture of condition and performance of cable assets including terminations.
This article is reproduced with the kind permission of OGV Energy. To read the article online, please click here.
ECG™, our holistic subsea cable monitoring system for offshore wind, drives our selection for this major industry award event.
Proserv has been selected as a finalist in the highly coveted Innovative Supply Chain Company of the Year category at the upcoming Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) Awards 2023, one of the energy industry’s most renowned and competitive awards events.
Our step change in holistic cable monitoring, ECG™, is the focus of our shortlisting. The technology is a powerful example of supply chain collaboration and innovation, with our partners Synaptec and BPP Cable Solutions coming together alongside us to share expertise and know-how to deliver a unique solution to address cable faults and failures, one of offshore wind’s major challenges.
ECG™ delivers real-time monitoring of cable assets with predictive intelligence insights reducing the threat of unexpected failures and downtime, therefore enhancing power generation, boosting ROI and enabling proactive O&M strategies with informed, targeted use of OPEX directly where needed.
The technology is a genuine shift in traditional monitoring systems, as it not only employs temperature and acoustic sensing, but uniquely it engages Synaptec’s distributed electrical sensors, or DES, via passive electrical and mechanical sensor systems. ECG™ also provides effective, detailed monitoring of cable terminations, a well-known failure point and one not adequately covered by other solutions.
Since its development, a little over two years ago, ECG™ has secured a major contract on Dogger Bank Wind Farm, set to be the world’s biggest, and this year it will be installed on Equinor’s Hywind Scotland, the world’s first commercial floating wind farm.
Paul Cook, Vice President, Renewables, commented:
“Many thanks to OEUK, and its judges, for this much appreciated shortlisting. It is testament to the great narrative behind the development of ECG™, a technology that offers real support to the acceleration of offshore wind’s rollout. We have come together with other supply chain companies to pool our expertise and innovate a new, impactful solution.
“Cable failures are a real challenge for the industry but understanding the needs of the market, listening to it, and collaboration are core to our identity at Proserv. We congratulate the other finalists, across all categories, and we very much look forward to the awards evening.”
Commenting on the upcoming awards, OEUK CEO David Whitehouse, added:
“We’ve had a fantastic response to our call for nominations with a 50% increase this year. These nominations highlight the breadth of talent in our exciting sector. There is some brilliant and innovative work ongoing, to provide energy security, to accelerate the energy transition, from companies large and small, up and down the UK.
“We look forward to celebrating our sector and to revealing the winners in November.”
OEUK received well over 100 nominations across only seven awards categories. The OEUK Awards 2023 will take place at the P&J Live in Aberdeen on Thursday, November 30th.
Following our CEO Davis Larssen’s appearance as a guest in an in-depth “Let’s talk Transition” video podcast earlier this year, courtesy of OGV Energy and its host Moray Melhuish, the discussion has formed the basis of a wide-ranging Q&A featured in the current OGV Renewables Quarterly, produced in association with RenewableUK. Davis references how the UK can become a global leader in floating wind, the potential generation of local content, our own ECG™ holistic cable monitoring system and points to the much-needed adoption of fresh methodologies around wind farm engineering and operation.
This article is reproduced with the kind permission of OGV Energy. To read the article online, please click here.
This article is reproduced with the kind permission of OGV Energy
Our step change technology in holistic subsea cable monitoring, ECG™, has been the subject of a feature story on the Offshore Wind Industry Council’s (OWIC) Collaborating for Growth Playbook platform. ECG™’s journey from a FEED study in 2019 to being deployed on Equinor’s Hywind Scotland floating wind farm this very year is set out, including the key parts collaboration, support funding and industrial sponsorship have played in its exciting success. Please visit the OWIC website to read it:
The Scottish Renewables Supply Chain Impact Statement 2022/3 was published recently. The document, which is headline sponsored by SSE Renewables, highlights how Scotland’s supply chain is utilising its expertise and capabilities to deliver specialist work across all renewable energy segments, including offshore wind. The rollout of our subsea cable monitoring system, ECG™, is the main theme of Proserv’s inclusion, exploring how the technology took shape and its impactful benefits for the industry. Our entry also includes a quote from our VP, Renewables, Paul Cook.
This page is reproduced with the kind permission of Scottish Renewables. To read the document online, please click here.