almost “regional network” style power cable solutions. These would connect electricity grids from different countries to enable a greater and more efficient supply of power to be transported between the two countries. An example of this process is the recent Estlink project, which Global Marine provided cable installation and burial services for. Estlink has connected the electricity grids of Estonia and Finland, enabling power generated to be shared between the two states.
Electricity Market Spotlight by Ian Gaitch The demand for increased bandwidth has been one of the key telecom industry trends during 2006. However, the role of cable installers helping to meet extra demand for capacity is not limited just to the telecoms industry. Whilst the skills of subsea telecom cable installation and maintenance are highly specialized, they are also highly adaptable, for example, Global Marine work in a variety of other industry sectors outside of telecoms, such as Oil and Gas, Power, Scientific Research and Renewable Energy.
Global power markets are buoyant and energy prices are continuing to rise, but whilst the UK takes for granted an efficient energy market, based on multiple companies providing a virtually guaranteed supply of electricity, this is not necessarily the case in other parts of the world. Black outs and power shortages are still common in other parts of the world but as these developing energy markets become more efficient there is a growing demand from the electricity industry to create
Typically, these types of installations are large and Estlink involved 2 x 75 kilometres of high voltage power cable, which weighed approximately 4,000 tonnes. To date, Estlink is one of Global Marine’s biggest power cable installation projects and a first for the company, simultaneously installing 2 bundled cables, utilising purpose built loading arms, trackway and a 5 metre chute to accommodate the scale of the installation. However, the project enabled Global Marine to use many of our standard cable installation and post-lay burial techniques. as well as touch down monitoring, which involves using an ROV to monitor that a cable is not laid too tightly or loosely or over sea floor obstructions, which would both damage the 27