OFFSHORE wind energy plays an important role in the expansion and diversification of the renewable energy generation worldwide. The cost of lost wind farm production due to subsea cable failure, however, is  major issue in this sector. Between 2002 and 2015, the insurance losses due to cable failure were more than £140 million in the UK alone. Some failures are mechanical and occur due to damage sustained during the installation phase when the cable is more likely to experience over-bending or excessive tension. The main cause of cable failure after commissioning is mechanical damages caused by human activities such as fishing and ship anchoring. Thus, it is not only useful to monitor the integrity of the cable, but to estimate dynamic strain.

xDAS, a FIBERVIS solution is utilized as a condition monitoring system, capable of mapping the curvature and tension of the cable in real time, measuring cyclical loading and abrupt impacts. This capability reduces the instances of faults and substantially increases the reliability of offshore subsea cable systems. 

Subsea cable fault prevention efforts can be implemented by monitoring dynamic strains experienced by subsea cables during both installation phase or post installation. xDAS is capable of saving millions in cost by monitoring for any signs of excessive tension as well as potential damages due to human activities in marine environment such as fishing and ship anchoring. xDAS solves an industry-wide issue, with its simplicity and high performance cost ratio system.