"Floating submarine cables" support offshore wind power

Wind power is widely known
as a clean energy source that does not require fuel.
However, there are not many places in Japan that have a stable wind direction and speed throughout the year, so offshore wind power is more susceptible to attention than onshore wind power
.
Of particular interest to the Fukushima Offshore Wind Consortium's "Fukushima Revitalization and Floating Offshore Wind Farm Empirical Research Business"
commissioned by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of the Fukushima Offshore Wind Power Development Project is of particular interest to large-scale offshore wind power development projects across the country.

Conventional offshore wind power generation adopts the "implantation type"
in which the power generation equipment is fixed to the seabed.
However, it is not realistic
to develop a deep "implantation type" off the coast of Fukushima.
Therefore, the world's first windmill and substation equipment are used in the region to float offshore and are connected by submarine cables "floating type"
.
This first-of-its-kind project involves 10 companies and 1 university
.
Furukawa Electric is responsible for the development, production, and installation
of submarine cables and floating submarine cables that transmit electricity to land.

Follow waves and currents in the sea Improve water retention and fatigue resistance

The development of floating submarine cables needs to take into account the following points
.
This is also to cope with waves and currents
.
Floating submarine cables connecting windmills and substation equipment, substation equipment and submarine cables pulled from the land are connected and repeatedly move through waves and currents, which greatly affect
the life of floating submarine cables.
The service life of land cables and general submarine cables is about 20-30 years, but floating submarine cables require the same durability as windmills to reach 20 years
.

In order to meet this high demand, Furukawa Electric has developed a long-term floating submarine cable that can be used for a long time, does not soak the inside of the cable with seawater resistance, and utilizes its more than 40 years of submarine power cable
research and development know-how.