The number of offshore wind farms is increasing greatly in large areas of the world, making a significant contribution to a sustainable energy future. The heat generated from power equipment on High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) platforms infers a cooling demand that needs to be met to ensure efficient electricity transfer to shore.

Traditionally, cooling is performed topside using sea water lift pumps in open loop systems. This process has a significant energy demand, requires regular maintenance, and infers discharge of chemicals to the sea.

Over the last 25 years Aker Solutions have delivered more than 30 field proven subsea coolers for various subsea applications around the world. This experience, together with simulation tools and digital twin applications are now leveraged to build the next generation of subsea coolers for other applications. By applying historical data combined with knowledge of heat transfer, marinization and material technology, a subsea cooling system for HVDC has been developed.

The result is a robust and cost-effective closed loop subsea cooling system that significantly reduces the operational cost of today’s standard solution, whilst also eliminating pollution of the sea during operations and putting people out of harms way.