{"id":282149,"date":"2023-10-06T12:04:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T10:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=282149"},"modified":"2023-10-06T12:04:03","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T10:04:03","slug":"failing-underwater-cables-pose-global-threat-to-offshore-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=282149","title":{"rendered":"Failing underwater cables \u201cpose global threat to offshore wind\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From JoNova<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jo Nova<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
They\u2019re not much use without a lot of cabling. |\u00a0\u00a0 Image by\u00a0Norbert Pietsch<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Pixabay<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to Oldbrew at Tallblokes Talkshop<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who knew high voltage cables running for kilometers in a deep electrolytic moving body of water would be expensive?<\/h4>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
The 245kV Wolfe Island Cable |\u00a0Photo by Z22<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/a>Despite offshore windfarms dealing in a kind of mechanical hell of high speed salt water spray, big waves and volatile wind conditions, surprisingly 85% of the insurance claims are because the underwater cables are failing.* If the subsea cables can\u2019t be insured, it\u2019s another unexpected cost threatening the economics of offshore wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The underwater cables needed for offshore wind are apparently so costly to repair, and the losses from lack of generation so steep, they are in danger of becoming uninsurable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subsea cable failures pose global threat to offshore wind<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Energy News Live<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The race to harness offshore wind<\/a> energy has hit a significant roadblock, with the reliability of subsea cables emerging as a critical concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global Underwater Hub (GUH) has raised alarm bells about the escalating issue of subsea cable failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These setbacks not only disrupt power transmissio<\/a>n but also incur hefty costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine if an entire coal plant was connected to the grid through one long cable buried under the ocean and when the cable failed it took months to find and repair \u2014 during which time the plant could not earn a cent\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subsea cable failure could derail global offshore wind projects<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

World Oil<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GUH chief executive, Neil Gordon, said, \u201cIt\u2019s estimated that around 85% of the total value of offshore wind insurance claims relate to subsea cables. Insurers are losing money underwriting cables with the average settlement claim in the region of \u00a39 million. Brokers have warned that the high number of cable claims is affecting capacity and coverage and the cost of repairs typically runs into millions, with warranties rarely covering the high cost of business interruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf these critical components become uninsurable, offshore wind projects around the world will be derailed, making global 2050 net zero targets completely unachievable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to one developer, the cost of insuring a 1.2GW offshore wind farm over its lifetime is in the region of \u00a3350 million and insurance brokers estimate that the costs of floating offshore wind will be 30% higher than fixed bottom ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global Power Marine<\/em> fixes export cables and quotes one happy customer talking about needing \u201conly\u201d 32 days instead of 67 days<\/a> to repair the cable.  But all the while, part or all of the wind plant isn\u2019t earning any income, and so much of any repair depends on getting good weather so a ship can hover and work uninterrupted while the cable is \u201cdangling\u201d and exposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gulski et al estimate<\/a> the duration of failure can be 1 to 3 or even up to 9 months:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLast 20 years of experience shows that the power cables are the largest contributor to the failures of power supply from the offshore plants. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
From Gulski et al<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For those who want the details on the challenges of engineering  Gulski et al detail some of the problems with subsea cables <\/a>like the need for armour that isn\u2019t magnetic, sections that are 30-50 kilometers long to avoid \u201cjoints\u201d underwater, and why most cables on the sea floor are called \u201cwet structures\u201d which allow water in (at least to the outer layers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wind energy might be free, but collecting it costs the Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Late Update \u2014 Australia desperately needs to learn these lessons<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Prompted by comments from David Maddison and Ross below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are no offshore wind plants in Australia but we are rushing to build them<\/a>, so the tales of woe from the UK and US are especially relevant here now.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Basslink<\/a> Cable from Tasmania to mainland Australian has broken not once, but three times here in the last seven years. First in 2016 for 5 or 6 months<\/a> (I believe Australia didn\u2019t even have the right repair ship, we used the Ile De Re<\/a> which was based in Jakarta<\/a>). Then the cable was out again in 2018 for two months<\/a>. And in 2019 for another month<\/a> due to a problem on land at the Victorian end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Basslink repair in 2016 were delayed for weeks because of bad weather.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

After three weeks of delay, the ship was finally able to leave Geelong last night and the repair team hopes calm conditions will last long enough to connect a new section of cable to the existing one. The repair team needs 16 calm days<\/strong> to work on the cable before it can be up and running again.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

How could our BOM even predict 16 calm days on the Bass Strait\u2026?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

_______________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Admittedly, this percentage may be high because insurance companies don\u2019t cover most of the other kinds of failures on wind \u201cfarms\u201d, as we see with\u00a0Siemens massive stock loss<\/a>\u00a0as they realized\u00a0the true cost of maintenance<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From JoNova By Jo Nova Thanks to Oldbrew at Tallblokes Talkshop Who knew high voltage cables running for kilometers in a deep electrolytic moving body of water would be expensive? Despite offshore windfarms dealing in a kind of mechanical hell of high speed salt water spray, big waves and volatile wind conditions, surprisingly 85% of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":282157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Who knew high voltage cables running for kilometers in a deep electrolytic moving body of water would be expensive?","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691823362,691822942,691818301,691823361,691823241],"class_list":{"0":"post-282149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-basslink-cable","9":"tag-global-underwater-hub-guh","10":"tag-offshore-wind","11":"tag-underwater-cables","12":"tag-uninsurable","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0wind-farm-offshore-3d-rendering-view-of-submarine-cables_shutterstock-2048x1178-1.jpg?fit=2048%2C1178&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1boN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":280318,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=280318","url_meta":{"origin":282149,"position":0},"title":"Subsea cable failures could derail offshore wind ambitions \u2013 insurance costs \u2018becoming prohibitive\u2019","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"25\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Another blow for net-zero dogmatists. 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And that\u2019s just to focus on the economics. Then there\u2019s the mounting and irreparable environmental harm \u2013 ecologically destructive and deadly to marine mammals, as well as fishing grounds and the livelihoods depend on them.","rel":"","context":"In \"dolphins death\"","block_context":{"text":"dolphins death","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=dolphins-death"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/zScreenshot-2023-11-03-111148-1024x611-1.webp?fit=1024%2C611&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/zScreenshot-2023-11-03-111148-1024x611-1.webp?fit=1024%2C611&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/zScreenshot-2023-11-03-111148-1024x611-1.webp?fit=1024%2C611&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/zScreenshot-2023-11-03-111148-1024x611-1.webp?fit=1024%2C611&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":201808,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=201808","url_meta":{"origin":282149,"position":3},"title":"Lobster Tales: Offshore Wind Farms Leave Lobster\u2019s With Deformed & Crippled Young","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/05\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Crabs and lobsters are being mesmerised, deformed and crippled by the peculiar electromagnetic fields created by the cables that connect offshore wind turbines. A\u00a0recent scientific study found\u00a0that the magnetic fields generated by these cables attracts crabs that then remain in place, fixated on the magnetic field, effectively immobilising them. Now,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0Screenshot-2022-05-28-115355.png?fit=1050%2C672&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0Screenshot-2022-05-28-115355.png?fit=1050%2C672&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0Screenshot-2022-05-28-115355.png?fit=1050%2C672&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0Screenshot-2022-05-28-115355.png?fit=1050%2C672&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/0Screenshot-2022-05-28-115355.png?fit=1050%2C672&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":394481,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=394481","url_meta":{"origin":282149,"position":4},"title":"The Trouble With Offshore\u00a0Wind","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/08\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Offshore wind harvesters are supposed to be one of the answers to the \u201cclimate crisis.\u201d It seems unlikely to me. We know and have discussed one of the major weaknesses of this generation mechanism, its\u00a0unpredictability. In a rational world, that alone would discount it as the go-to for any modern\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aviation and radar\"","block_context":{"text":"Aviation and radar","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=aviation-and-radar"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AQMqMmQokZhSf57SBrGq5qSj2FQwPYb2-n_Ng4m6m67EzBc7AXMfJGrcc4s2UNxzgaOT4IuGptXkJts-82fhSxEL_iJvzs_0V-VRho-zcQ5OAucO6ES3HVVgAM9QTKg3CwpmPaq2KHkhYtfGenKKTbW7dfMvcg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AQMqMmQokZhSf57SBrGq5qSj2FQwPYb2-n_Ng4m6m67EzBc7AXMfJGrcc4s2UNxzgaOT4IuGptXkJts-82fhSxEL_iJvzs_0V-VRho-zcQ5OAucO6ES3HVVgAM9QTKg3CwpmPaq2KHkhYtfGenKKTbW7dfMvcg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AQMqMmQokZhSf57SBrGq5qSj2FQwPYb2-n_Ng4m6m67EzBc7AXMfJGrcc4s2UNxzgaOT4IuGptXkJts-82fhSxEL_iJvzs_0V-VRho-zcQ5OAucO6ES3HVVgAM9QTKg3CwpmPaq2KHkhYtfGenKKTbW7dfMvcg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AQMqMmQokZhSf57SBrGq5qSj2FQwPYb2-n_Ng4m6m67EzBc7AXMfJGrcc4s2UNxzgaOT4IuGptXkJts-82fhSxEL_iJvzs_0V-VRho-zcQ5OAucO6ES3HVVgAM9QTKg3CwpmPaq2KHkhYtfGenKKTbW7dfMvcg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AQMqMmQokZhSf57SBrGq5qSj2FQwPYb2-n_Ng4m6m67EzBc7AXMfJGrcc4s2UNxzgaOT4IuGptXkJts-82fhSxEL_iJvzs_0V-VRho-zcQ5OAucO6ES3HVVgAM9QTKg3CwpmPaq2KHkhYtfGenKKTbW7dfMvcg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":256366,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=256366","url_meta":{"origin":282149,"position":5},"title":"Offshore Wind Anyone? NATO Claims Russia has MINED Undersea Pipes and Cables","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The only question, would Russia mine undersea cables to offshore wind farms, or would they stick to mining useful energy infrastructure like undersea gas pipelines? Perhaps they plan to leave undersea wind alone, in an effort to lure Western nations into committing to more renewables.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00pipeline-leck-1001280x720-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00pipeline-leck-1001280x720-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00pipeline-leck-1001280x720-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00pipeline-leck-1001280x720-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00pipeline-leck-1001280x720-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=282149"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282159,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282149\/revisions\/282159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/282157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=282149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=282149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=282149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}