ABB has since 2013 been running a 100MUSD Joint Industry project together with Equinor, Chevron and Total to develop technologies for subsea power transmission, distribution and conversion at greater distances, in deeper waters, and in harsher environments. The target environment is water depths up to 3000 meters, transmission distances up to 600 km, and power levels up to 100 MW. The first Subsea VSD was successfully tested in November 2018. This was an important milestone in the project. The subsea VSD operated for 1000 hours and demonstrated successful and reliable operation of the drive during different load conditions.

In the final test campaign, the complete subsea power system will be tested together in a second shallow water in the summer of 2019. This will mark the end of this ground-breaking qualification project involving over 150 technical experts from 6 different European countries from ABB and our partners. After completion of final testing the products and systems will be available for commercial use, transforming future development of oil and gas fields. This presentation will give an insight into the latest progress and achievements. Further we will present the products and system aspects related to use of this technology and the benefits this could have on future field developments.