Proserv, Synaptec Developing Cable Monitoring Solution for Offshore Wind

Controls technology company Proserv Controls has teamed up with power system monitoring firm Synaptec to develop a cable monitoring system for offshore wind farms.

The two companies expect the solution to reduce downtime, improve safety, and lower operating costs at offshore wind farms.

Proserv said it would incorporate Synaptec’s passive distributed electro-mechanical sensing (DES) technology within the monitoring solution.

Paul Cook, Proserv’s Product Manager – Renewables said:"...Synaptec’s non-intrusive passive monitoring capability means we have the scope to integrate this technology, alongside other monitoring techniques, to bring significant added value to our future control systems.”

According to the partnership, Synaptec’s optical sensing capabilities, together with Proserv’s controls technology, allows the retrofit of control systems, enabling faults and failures to be identified pre-emptively, through a non-intrusive approach.

Philip Orr, Managing Director, Synaptec, said: “Cable failures continue to be a significant challenge for the offshore wind sector. Through this new partnership we are bringing to market a solution which will support the growth and progress of the energy transition and positively impact the operations and maintenance costs for offshore wind operators. It’s an important milestone and demonstrates both Synaptec’s and Proserv’s commitment to a stable energy future at a time when the energy sector is undergoing the biggest transformation we’ll see in our lifetimes.”

The companies said the wide-ranging objective of the partnership is to move both companies forward in several energy markets, including offshore wind and upstream oil and gas, via the co-development of multiple innovative products and services.

Apart from offshore wind cable monitoring, the duo will explore how to incorporate Synaptec’s passive DES into Proserv’s subsea control systems in order to monitor the performance of critical infrastructure.

"The two firms will work to integrate their mutual technologies to generate condition monitoring solutions which will take preventative failure warnings to another level of sophistication, enabling timely intervention by operators, and thus preventing outages and costly lost production," the companies said.