Bridging Technology and Insurance: Horizon Bridge Innovates Offshore Wind Cable Monitoring
Offshore wind energy has become a critical component of the global renewable energy landscape, contributing significantly to the reduction of carbon emissions and the transition away from fossil fuels. However, the offshore wind sector faces a substantial challenge: the vulnerability of its infrastructure, particularly subsea cables, which are essential for transmitting electricity from offshore turbines to the mainland. In the $86.6 billion global offshore wind market, failures and damage to equipment—especially high-voltage underwater power cables—occur frequently during manufacturing and installation, leading to unplanned turbine shutdowns, extensive repairs, and a high volume of large-value insurance claims.
Subsea cable failures are one of the most common and costly issues in offshore wind, accounting for a significant portion of operational downtime and resulting in substantial financial losses for developers. For insurers, this translates into increased premiums, further burdening wind farm operators with higher costs. The need for innovative solutions that can mitigate these risks, reduce insurance premiums, and ensure the longevity and reliability of offshore wind assets has never been greater.
The rapid expansion of offshore wind farms around the world adds urgency to this problem, as the sector aims to meet growing energy demands while keeping costs manageable. Effective monitoring and predictive maintenance solutions are critical to addressing the risk of cable failures and minimizing the associated financial and operational impacts. By preventing issues before they escalate, developers can avoid costly repairs and extended downtime, while insurers can reduce claims and offer more competitive premiums.
Horizon Bridge is stepping into this critical space with advanced offshore wind cable monitoring solutions, offering a comprehensive approach to reducing the risks and costs associated with subsea cable failures.
Greenbackers is pleased to introduce Horizon Bridge, that has developed advanced offshore wind cable monitoring solutions, bridging the gap between technology and insurance.
Why Horizon Bridge:
- Innovative technology: Horizon Bridge’s advanced monitoring system combines retrofittable subsea-ready hardware with telematics sensing, AI, and machine learning analytics to detect and prevent failure mechanisms in high-voltage underwater cables. This proactive approach mitigates risk for developers while enabling insurers to reduce premiums, offering financial and operational benefits for all stakeholders.
- Commercial traction: Patent submissions for their proprietary technology, development of a working prototype with promising results, positive feedback from face-to-face meetings with major developers and insurers, including Ørsted and Salamander, ongoing discussions for field trials during upcoming offshore wind projects.
- Market potential: Horizon Bridge targets offshore wind developers, insurers, and reinsurers, focusing on integrating their technology into wind farm operations. By aligning the interests of insurers and developers, the company’s model incentivizes premium discounts for those adopting its monitoring system. Revenue streams will come from hardware sales and subscription-based Software as a Service (SaaS) for data and analytics with tiered service levels.
Investment Snapshot:
- Type: Seed Round
- Target amount: £2.5m
- Minimum contribution: £100k
For further information or to speak with Horizon Bridge directly contact Anton Themen at [email protected]
