Cable maps are essential for wind farms

French wind farms are subject to many legal obligations. One of them is the production of a comprehensive documentation on the various equipment constituting of wind farms.

However, crucial documents such as cable maps can sometimes be missing for wind farms commissioned in the early 2000’s or before. Greensolver has occasionally observed this lack of technical due diligence work performed on operational wind farms.

It is essential to know the accurate location of the various electrical and telecommunication cables for safety reasons. Cables are buried at ~80 cm deep – sometimes less. An accident can therefore occur during basic civil works, for example, if the exact location of the cables is unknown. Moreover, in case of failure of this equipment, a precise knowledge of its location allows a direct intervention and therefore limits the loss of revenue related to the wind turbines downtime.

As part of a wind asset transaction, buyers have to make sure these cable maps exist. If these documents are missing, a geolocation of cables by magnetic detection can be performed by a specialised company. A map of the underground cables can thus be produced as well as an estimate of their depth. Greensolver’s expertise team can assist clients on these kind of technical issues.

By Clément Vinét, Asset Manager