Technical Information for Developers

Wave Hub is connected to shore via an armoured subsea cable which consists of twin 300mm² 33kV power triads and fibre optic cables.

The cable is terminated onto two isolated busbars within the hub chamber on the seabed and each busbar will service two berthing areas via four 300m ‘tails’, one for each berth, made up of three core 120mm² 33 kV cable, operating at 11kV.

Each customer will connect to the Wave Hub by means of an umbilical that will run from the lead device of each array to an 11kV dry-mate connector on one of the Wave Hub tails. One half of the connector is fitted to the cable tail and the other half will be issued to the Wave Hub customer. The connectors provide electrical and fibre optic connection.

Wave Hub’s subsea cable connects to a new electricity substation at Hayle on the north coast of Cornwall via a pair of 400mm² 33kV onshore cables on the beach. The substation comprises an 11kV/33kV transformer with associated switchgear and power factor correction equipment to ensure delivery to the grid within specification.

Control and monitoring of wave energy devices is performed remotely via fibre optic cables within the main cable. Power metering is performed at the lead device on each array and at the substation exit breaker.

Grid connection is via the Western Power Distribution substation at Hayle. The Wave Hub system will operate initially at 11kV and is capable of delivering 16-20MW of power. Once the industry has developed subsea components for 33kV operation the system can be run at 33kV, allowing Wave Hub to accommodate up to 50MW of devices.

Wave Hub will enter into a power purchase agreement on behalf of all customers using the project and customers will receive a share of the sale proceeds of power, renewable obligations certificates, embedded generation benefit and other receipts according to the amount of power they have generated .

The Wave Hub system holds a grid connection agreement with Western Power Distribution including parameters of electrical quality. Customers will be required to operate within the parameters of the WEC Connection Specification.