In 2016, when an oil tanker off the British mainland came upon a patch of stormy weather near the Channel Islands, it dropped anchor to wait things out.
In 2016, when an oil tanker off the British mainland came upon a patch of stormy weather near the Channel Islands, it dropped anchor to wait things out. Moments later, internet speeds on the UK island of Jersey plummeted.
It turns out, as the anchor hit bottom, it snagged a few network cables on the seafloor and severed them, leaving internet users across the island temporarily out of access.
Internet cables aren’t the only form of underwater wiring vulnerable to snags on the seafloor. High voltage cables supplying power from the mainland to offshore wind farms are also easy targets if they’re not adequately protected. These black, rubber-coated cables are not the most glamorous components of offshore wind—but they’re critical veins of power that wind operators, developers, and coastal communities rely on to keep this brand new source of clean energy in the U.S. going.
“Most people focus on the spinning blades of turbines to ensure that an offshore wind energy project will be successful, but the subsea cables that bring that power to land are equally as important,” said Anthony Kirincich, a physical oceanographer at WHOI. “Power can be cut by cable damage from ship anchors, fishing trawlers, or storms. So, these cables need to be routinely surveyed and maintained to ensure a project will continue to provide power to the grid, and revenue to the operators.”
Read more at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
