Cable firm wins £7m wave power contract

www.edp24.co.uk
21/07/2009

A cable firm based in East Anglia has won a £7.6m contract to help construct an electrical "socket" on the seabed off the coast of Cornwall. JDR Cable Systems, based at Littleport in Cambridgeshire, has been awarded the contract by the South West Regional Development Agency as part of a £42m project to generate electricity by wave power.

The "Wave Hub" project will see groups of wave energy devices that float on or near the surface 10 miles off the Cornish coast connect to the National Grid through an underwater "socket" and cables. JDR will supply the assembly for the socket and 16.5 miles of cables to connect it to an onshore control room. The equipment will be built at JDR's new £20m manufacturing facility in Hartlepool, which was opened earlier this month.

JDR said it expected to deliver the cables and assembly in the second quarter of 2010 before the Wave Hub goes live in 2011. Once complete, the new wave power system is expected to deliver 20 MWs of electricity - enough to power 7,000 homes - up to 50 MWs in future.

Patrick Phelan, managing director of the £45m-turnover firm, said: "The Wave Hub project draws on JDR's wealth of experience in the design and manufacture of subsea cable and umbilical systems to produce a solution that will meet the demanding requirements of this innovative application.

"Our new quayside facility at Hartlepool dock is ideally sized for the manufacture and load-out of this 1,500-tonne cable system, and we look forward to supporting the installation process with our team of qualified offshore service technicians." A cable firm based in East Anglia has won a £7.6m contract to help construct an electrical "socket" on the seabed off the coast of Cornwall.

JDR Cable Systems, based at Littleport in Cambridgeshire, has been awarded the contract by the South West Regional Development Agency as part of a £42m project to generate electricity by wave power. The "Wave Hub" project will see groups of wave energy devices that float on or near the surface 10 miles off the Cornish coast connect to the National Grid through an underwater "socket" and cables.

JDR will supply the assembly for the socket and 16.5 miles of cables to connect it to an onshore control room. The equipment will be built at JDR's new £20m manufacturing facility in Hartlepool, which was opened earlier this month. JDR said it expected to deliver the cables and assembly in the second quarter of 2010 before the Wave Hub goes live in 2011. Once complete, the new wave power system is expected to deliver 20 MWs of electricity - enough to power 7,000 homes - up to 50 MWs in future.

Patrick Phelan, managing director of the £45m-turnover firm, said: "The Wave Hub project draws on JDR's wealth of experience in the design and manufacture of subsea cable and umbilical systems to produce a solution that will meet the demanding requirements of this innovative application.

"Our new quayside facility at Hartlepool dock is ideally sized for the manufacture and load-out of this 1,500-tonne cable system, and we look forward to supporting the installation process with our team of qualified offshore service technicians."