A Key Route-Engineering and Planning Tool for Subsea Power Cables Grows in Popularity

Makai Ocean Engineering has recently made multiple sales of their full-featured GIS route engineering software, MakaiPlan, to power cable installers who serve the offshore renewable energy market.

"We have been monitoring the offshore renewables market closely," said Dr. Jose Andres, CEO of Makai, "and we are excited that our planning and installation tools are being adopted so rapidly. The offshore wind and tidal markets present an attractive opportunity for us to offer proven cable software tools and training that we have developed for the telecom cable market. Makai will continue to work closely with our clients to develop new features that address the unique challenges of subsea power cables."

Figure 1 Engineers and consultants use MakaiPlan for subsea power cable array planning and route engineering.

MakaiPlan allows users to create and edit submarine cable routes, define cables and in-line bodies, define and adjust slack, instantly create RPLs and SLDs, estimate system costs and generate a preliminary cable installation plan. Multiple planners and designers work interactively on cable installations with easy access to and exchange of project data. The tool is the industry standard in cable route planning and engineering software, with over 300 licenses sold over the last 14 years.

Many of the largest subsea power cable installers and consultants are using MakaiPlan for the route engineering for subsea power cable projects, which already includes over 15 of the offshore wind farms in the UK and Europe. Current MakaiPlan users in the renewable industry include Pelagian International, Global Marine Systems, RES-Offshore, TetraTech, and Mojo Marine among others.