LYSAKER, NORWAY — According to their designers, the underwater substations could prove far more reliable and cost-effective than their above-sea-level counterparts.

Aker Offshore Wind have recently published their plans for a new underwater substation, which is supposed to be deployed at floating offshore wind projects off the coast of Scotland and which Aker would develop, manufacture, and supply if the project were to be greenlit.

While substations are usually installed above sea level, the idea behind the new design should result in several new benefits, such as using seawater as a natural cooling system. The more constant temperatures of the water in combination with fewer components of the system itself could aid reliability and reduce maintenance requirements, which in turn could also lead to lower operational costs, according to Aker.

As they wouldn’t need any auxiliary systems like HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-condition), accommodations for personnel, or low voltage systems, underwater substations would need fewer components than their above-sea-level counterparts and would be maintenance-free, with visual inspections to be carried out by remote operated vehicles.

The underwater substation has been submitted as part of Aker Offshore Wind’s bids with Ocean Winds in Scotland’s offshore wind leasing round. The pair had submitted a series of bids for sites that could support up to 6GW of floating offshore wind capacity in the Outer Moray Firth, off Scotland’s north-east coast and Auction regulator Crown Estate Scotland is expected to announce the results in early 2022.

Source: Aker Offshore Wind