Cable failures account for 83% of all such issues for the vastly growing offshore wind sector, which can see developers incur tens of millions of pounds in losses apiece.
Glasgow-headquartered Synaptec has developed sensing technology that can detect four out of every five cable faults in these projects, saving costs and massively reducing project risk as operators are thus able to take steps to address the problems.
The firm, projecting major company growth in coming years, has been selected to instrument the latest phase of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm once complete, as the tech gains momentum.
Synaptec is anticipating a fourfold increase in revenues in the next 2–3 years while also doubling headcount. This month it moved into new premises in Glasgow, three times that of its previous facility, to accommodate the growth.
It comes amid projections of unprecedented market demand through the deployment of new floating offshore wind in Scotland and record levels of onshore grid installation in the coming decade.
However, insurance challenges for critical cable infrastructure have been cited as a major barrier to net zero goals by industry and international insurance firms Lloyd Warwick and Allianz. Insuring major fixed-bottom offshore wind farms can cost around £350 million over their lifetime, and the burgeoning floating wind sector is expected to cost significantly more.
It comes as grid connection needs to more than treble, from 57.5 GW today to at least 210 GW, according to the National Energy System Operator (NESO), for delivery of government goals of 2030 clean power.
Meanwhile, the recent ScotWind and INTOG leasing rounds have created a pipeline of 24.4 GW of floating offshore wind capacity off Scotland’s shores—a gigantic ramp-up considering global installed capacity as of 2023 was less than 1 GW.
The Distributed Electrical Sensing (DES) technology’s track record has already seen it selected for Hywind Scotland and Hywind Tampen, the first and largest floating wind farms in the world, respectively.
Of all cable failures, 69% occur in joints and terminations, where Synaptec’s system focuses.
Synaptec Chief Executive Officer Philip Orr said: “Cable failures and unplanned maintenance are bad news for the offshore wind sector and a challenge which can and must be overcome as the UK and other countries around the world embark on their clean energy missions.
“DES will help unlock the full potential of offshore wind around the world, giving operators peace of mind and preventing claims backlogs running into the hundreds of millions of pounds for some individual cases.
“This latest order positions DES as the de-facto standard for electrical monitoring of offshore wind power cables, and we look forward to delivering the next phase of our exciting growth journey.
“As the energy transition delivers major challenges to the power industry, Synaptec stands ready to support developers with the solutions they require to ensure economical and efficient operation.”
