Founded in 2002, Pelagian is an established consultancy specialising in the design and construction of subsea cable systems. The company provides high-calibre expertise to telecommunications and power cable projects worldwide. From highly qualified office-based design engineers to experienced offshore representatives and vessel crew, Pelagian has every aspect of your subsea cable project covered.
Pelagian is an acknowledged industry leader in the field of subsea cables and has been actively involved in many of the world’s major projects in the telecommunications, power and renewable energy sectors. The company provides its customers with a unique insight into the complexities of operating in the offshore environment, the team of managing consultants each having over 20 years of industry knowledge and experience.
Offshore project management
Pelagian can provide a turnkey approach to project management based on the wide-ranging skills of our consultant engineers. We contribute to all aspects of subsea cable projects, providing the relevant technical and commercial expertise at all stages of the project lifecycle.
Pelagian can contribute to project management in the following key areas:
- Cable system feasibility and desk top studies
- Cable route surveys, hazard assessment and route engineering
- Terrestrial and marine permitting
- Cable system design
- Cable manufacturing and loading (supervision and testing)
- Marine operations planning and procurement
- Cable installation (main lay, shore ends, route clearance, post-lay inspection and burial)
- Cable burial verification surveys
- Offshore wind farm array and export cable layout design and engineering
- Asset management
Over the last decade, Pelagian consultants have contributed to numerous high-profile projects in the telecommuncations and renewable energy sectors. The company’s consultants have played an integral part in the design, survey, installation and ongoing maintenance of many of the world’s subsea fibre-optic communications cables and Europe’s wind farm projects. Pelagian provides multi-disciplinary consultants to advise the customer on all aspects of marine operations, from cable manufacture and testing to marine survey and installation, through to system commissioning and ongoing operations and maintenance.
Offshore feasibility studies
Pelagian is a leader in conducting feasibility studies for subsea cable projects. It has written desk top studies for many cable projects, from simple point to point systems to large multi-country networks.
The company’s experience covers the detailed risk analysis of natural and man-made marine hazards as well as route selection based on environmental and regulatory assessment and de-confliction with existing cable systems and subsea structures. It also includes terrestrial landing point site selection and detailed subsea route engineering to ensure that the customer benefits from a safe, cost-effective and fully optimised route that will be able to withstand the rigours of subsea placement over the lifecycle of the project. Pelagian has produced high-quality reports for many of the major cable installers and manufacturers, and our knowledge is global.
Wind farm layout design
Pelagian’s consultants have played an active role in the design of many offshore wind farms, creating a detailed layout plan of wind turbine positions, array cables and export cables. These staff are highly experienced surveyors, geophysicists, engineers and oceanographers with a deep understanding of the marine environment and the related risks to offshore construction.
The framework of the design process is a geographical information system (GIS), which graphically displays a wide variety of databases. These include admiralty charts, existing seabed construction, detailed seabed surveys, marine archaeology and shipwrecks, unexploded ordinance, fishing grounds and metocean (wind and wave) data. Pelagian uses industry standard MakaiPlan GIS software for engineering the cable routes, computing cable quantities and managing the surveys and installation of the wind farm export and array cables.
Cable route engineering
Pelagian’s cable route engineering expertise is a combination of many years of hands-on cable survey and installation experience interfaced to the industry standard GIS-based cable engineering software. GIS is used at all stages in the cable system project lifecycle, from initial design to final installation. It gives a historical record of engineering decisions in both graphical and numerical formats.
Pelagian’s route engineering expertise has contributed extensively to many of the world’s largest subsea telecommunications systems using industry leading Makai software for the precise computation of cable quantities and the swift generation of detailed engineering charts. It has also introduced rigorous engineering processes and standards into this growth area of subsea cable activity.
Personnel provision
Pelagian personnel have many years of experience in the offshore survey, cable laying and hydrocarbons industries. The company uses that expertise to provide technical and commercial consultancy services and project management to its customers. From its formation, Pelagian has built up a solid track record in all aspects of cable operations, from initial feasibility studies, marine surveys and permitting through to cable installation and system commissioning. Whether embedding seamlessly into a client’s office or operating in the most challenging and austere of site locations as customer representatives, our team provides unparalleled expertise to keep the project on track and on budget.
Pelagian also specialises in crew and specialised staff for offshore operations. We can provide site and vessel personnel for any cable project, such as offshore renewables (wind, wave and tide), telecommunications, power interconnectors or security-cleared staff for military cables.