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The following content is from an older version of this website, and may not display correctly.Geographic product and service specialist, Infoterra Ltd, has launched a new service designed to protect underwater cables and pipelines from shipping damage.
Dubbed the 'AssetMonitor' service, Infoterra is labelling it as a 'submarine asset protection service'. And it already has a customer, after The Channel Islands Electricity Grid (CIEG) revealed it has deployed AssetMonitor in order to protect its critical power lines between France and the Channel Islands.
There are currently two 90,000-volt submarine cables that supply power (and fibre optic communications) from France to Jersey and on to Guernsey. The first cable is capable of supplying up to 55 MW of power, whereas the second cable can provide the islands with up to 90 MW of power from Europe. CIEG is using AssetMonitor to protect these two submarine cables.
You would imagine infrastructure at the bottom of the ocean would be fairly safe, but these underwater assets, which can include electricity and telecom cables, and even oil and gas pipelines, are often at risk from accidental damage from anchors and fishing activity.
Indeed, it seems that shipping poses a significant global problem to undersea assets, and damage often results in interrupted services, expensive repairs, and waiting for a suitable repair vessel to become available.
"Repairs to damaged submarine assets are always expensive - not just for insurance companies, but also in terms of the broader economic implications when a critical service is interrupted," said Dave Curry, Infoterra's Product Development Manager for AssetMonitor.
"That's why the primary aim of AssetMonitor is to prevent expensive submarine damage incidents by giving vessels plenty of warning if they are slowing down or anchoring in a 'protected' submarine area," he added. "We believe if just a single incidence of undersea damage can be avoided, then AssetMonitor will have paid for itself many times over."
Infoterra believes the introduction of AssetMonitor is timely because of the current trend for more deployments of offshore wind farms and marine turbines, which means that incidents of submarine asset damage are likely to increase going forward.
AssetMonitor works by making use of live vessel positions, as well as data from the shipboard Automatic Identification System (AIS) broadcast system. AssetMonitor also uses the 'Route Position Lists for undersea assets', which allows it to generate automatic warnings if an asset may be at risk due to shipping activity.
But not all submarine assets are the same, so AssetMonitor adds some flexibility here, in that it allows customers to actually define their own protection zones around its cables or pipelines. And the customer can also configure the rules-based on AIS data to identify vessels that may be a hazard. This could include, for example, vessels that are either anchoring or dragging an anchor close to cables.
When AssetMonitor detects a vessel breaking a rule in the protection zone, a warning is automatically raised in the organisation's control room. Email and SMS messages can also be triggered, depending upon the severity of the event.
"The Jersey and Guernsey submarine cables are a key part of the Channel Islands infrastructure, supplying some 97 percent of Jersey's and up to 80 percent of Guernsey's annual electricity requirements," said Sally-Ann David, Director, Channel Islands Electricity Grid.
"The cables also carry high capacity fibre optic communication cables that allow the Channel Islands' financial services sector to operate globally on a 24/7 basis," she added. "Clearly any interruption to either service would have significant implications for the economy of both Guernsey and Jersey."
Dubbed the 'AssetMonitor' service, Infoterra is labelling it as a 'submarine asset protection service'. And it already has a customer, after The Channel Islands Electricity Grid (CIEG) revealed it has deployed AssetMonitor in order to protect its critical power lines between France and the Channel Islands.
There are currently two 90,000-volt submarine cables that supply power (and fibre optic communications) from France to Jersey and on to Guernsey. The first cable is capable of supplying up to 55 MW of power, whereas the second cable can provide the islands with up to 90 MW of power from Europe. CIEG is using AssetMonitor to protect these two submarine cables.
You would imagine infrastructure at the bottom of the ocean would be fairly safe, but these underwater assets, which can include electricity and telecom cables, and even oil and gas pipelines, are often at risk from accidental damage from anchors and fishing activity.
Indeed, it seems that shipping poses a significant global problem to undersea assets, and damage often results in interrupted services, expensive repairs, and waiting for a suitable repair vessel to become available.
"Repairs to damaged submarine assets are always expensive - not just for insurance companies, but also in terms of the broader economic implications when a critical service is interrupted," said Dave Curry, Infoterra's Product Development Manager for AssetMonitor.
"That's why the primary aim of AssetMonitor is to prevent expensive submarine damage incidents by giving vessels plenty of warning if they are slowing down or anchoring in a 'protected' submarine area," he added. "We believe if just a single incidence of undersea damage can be avoided, then AssetMonitor will have paid for itself many times over."
Infoterra believes the introduction of AssetMonitor is timely because of the current trend for more deployments of offshore wind farms and marine turbines, which means that incidents of submarine asset damage are likely to increase going forward.
AssetMonitor works by making use of live vessel positions, as well as data from the shipboard Automatic Identification System (AIS) broadcast system. AssetMonitor also uses the 'Route Position Lists for undersea assets', which allows it to generate automatic warnings if an asset may be at risk due to shipping activity.
But not all submarine assets are the same, so AssetMonitor adds some flexibility here, in that it allows customers to actually define their own protection zones around its cables or pipelines. And the customer can also configure the rules-based on AIS data to identify vessels that may be a hazard. This could include, for example, vessels that are either anchoring or dragging an anchor close to cables.
When AssetMonitor detects a vessel breaking a rule in the protection zone, a warning is automatically raised in the organisation's control room. Email and SMS messages can also be triggered, depending upon the severity of the event.
"The Jersey and Guernsey submarine cables are a key part of the Channel Islands infrastructure, supplying some 97 percent of Jersey's and up to 80 percent of Guernsey's annual electricity requirements," said Sally-Ann David, Director, Channel Islands Electricity Grid.
"The cables also carry high capacity fibre optic communication cables that allow the Channel Islands' financial services sector to operate globally on a 24/7 basis," she added. "Clearly any interruption to either service would have significant implications for the economy of both Guernsey and Jersey."