Manchester leads European consortium to innovate cable technology for a greener power grid

Researchers at The University of Manchester will lead a European consortium to design crucial cable technology that will help achieve the ambition of transferring approximately 17% of total electricity from offshore wind by 2050. 

The £5.5 million project, funded by Horizon Europe, will involve a four-year collaboration between Manchester and academic and industry experts from ETH Zurich, the University of Vienna, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, NKT Cable Group, Shell France, Shell Research Ltd, S&B Insurance Advisors, and Arttic Innovation. This initiative aims to develop the enabling technology that supports a sustainable European electricity grid. 

 Named DCDYNAMIC (Accelerating DC Dynamic Export Cable Technology for a Sustainable European Electricity Grid), the project will consist of three distinct parts. Firstly, understanding how electrical, mechanical, and thermal stresses impact these cables; secondly how to create real-world conditions for reliable testing; and thirdly, construction of a 320 kV high-voltage DC cable prototype, tested at scale using the simulated conditions created through the project. 

 DCDYNAMIC will be led by Dr Tony Chen, Reader in High Voltage Engineering in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, which houses the UK’s largest academic electrical test and research facility, the High Voltage Lab. He will be joined by Ian Kinloch, Professor of Materials Science and Chief Scientist at the Henry Royce Institute, the UK’s national institute for material innovation; and Dr Mark Bissett, Reader in Nanomaterials based at the National Graphene Institute. 

 DCDYNAMIC is one of the earliest Horizon projects since the UK re-joined, with a UK university serving as the lead coordinator. 

Project lead, Dr Tony Chen, said: “Being granted European Commission funding as the project coordinator on this scale demonstrates the competitiveness of UK institutions.”  

Home to over 2000 wind farms, and with the largest offshore wind capacity in the world, wind power already plays a leading part in the UK’s energy landscape. This offshore resource provides a range of advantages over its onshore equivalent; farms can be built at a greater scale (the UK currently has the biggest offshore wind farm in the world, Hornsea 1 near the Yorkshire coast), winds are higher and more consistent, and any visual impact concerns are significantly reduced.