Subsea Infrastructures: Underwater Environment Analysis for the Submerged Cluster Approach

Renewable energies in the Offshore Industry are the sector that presents the most relevant growth. The technology adapts proven energy installations commonly used on land to the marine environment. Usual examples are energy storage, distribution, and transformation systems. More mature design configurations are above sea surface, anchored to the seabed with auxiliary structures in non-floating fixed installations. Placing the storage and transformation systems on the seabed would avoid supporting structures, although it does require studies, designs, and integrations to optimize the new submerged facilities. This article covers the potential development of undersea infrastructures for different sectors, beyond the traditional Oil and Gas, and considers both the alternative applications and the associated technological challenges and a time frame for each case. Technological factors are analyzed and environmental, location, design, accessibility, and maintainability aspects are considered to reliably operate the submerged facilities analyzed.