A new electrical engineering consultancy, Kinewell Energy, has been launched, introducing its specially developed software for the offshore wind industry.
According to the newly set up company, the Kinewell Layout Optimisation of Cable (KLOC) software is a result of two years of research and development and is estimated to save £100m – £1bn to the UK offshore wind industry.
KLOC designs the geographic electrical connections that link offshore wind turbines with a substation, collecting the power before sending it to shore, Managing Director Andrew Jenkins explained. “We consider the cost of the cable, its installation cost due to sea bed conditions and electrical losses which results in the unnecessary heating of seawater. Put simply, we’re just incredibly good at playing dot to dot,” Jenkins added.
A single iteration of the software’s algorithm considers a small subset of the network and re-designs it. With many iterations, the best areas of the network are kept while re-designing the sub-optimal areas, the company said.
Image: Kinewell Energy/Illustration