Subsea cables, essential for communication and energy transmission, are seeing a surge in demand due to the global shift towards renewable energy sources. However, challenges remain, including vulnerability to sabotage and shifting seabed conditions, as well as political uncertainties and reliance on technical expertise from China. Despite these hurdles, the sector holds immense potential for growth as the world continues its transition towards a cleaner energy future.
Subsea cables, the backbone of our communications and energy, are enormous: nose to tail, they’d wrap round the globe 37 times. But even that is nowhere near enough. The green transition — which for many places means relying on far-off sun and wind — has stuffed some cablemakers’ order books, and lifted their shares. There are still knots to untangle. Cables are vulnerable to everything from sabotage to the shifting seabed.
More ambitious still, come 2030, start-up Xlinks aims to pump solar energy from sunny Morocco through 4,000km of subsea cable, ultimately meeting 8 per cent of the UK’s electricity needs and keeping lights on when the home winds drop. The required £20bn investment sounds like a pipe dream, but then so does the UK’s bid to have 50GW of offshore wind power by 2030, a more than threefold increase. That points to the second big cable snag.
RENEWABLE ENERGY SUBSEA CABLES ENERGY TRANSITION INVESTOR SENTIMENT CHINA
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