(AUCKLAND, New Zealand) — Vesper Marine, a leading manufacturer of innovative marine safety products, has announced that Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), the major power distribution company in Thailand, is trialing Guardian:protect to monitor the 22-kV submarine cable system from Sriracha to Koh Si Chang.
Guardian:protect is a 24/7 asset protection system that prevents accidental vessel damage to subsea cables, pipelines and marine assets. Using the automatic identification system (AIS), it gives vessels visibility of the protected marine assets via virtual buoys displayed on their electronic navigation systems. The solution monitors real-time vessel movements, evaluates their behavior to determine if they present a risk to the assets and proactively sends both the target vessel and the asset owner an alert if an incident might occur. The alert goes directly to the vessel’s electronic navigation system, so the crew can immediately take corrective action.
The nine-kilometer cable system from Sriracha to Koh Si Chang has been impacted by three subsea cable incidents in recent years. Although marine traffic was monitored by AIS base stations, they could not determine whether a vessel presented a risk and had no mechanism to instantly contact the vessel, alerting them of the potential danger.
“The situation that PEA is confronted with is not new to Vesper Marine,” said Jeff Robbins, CEO of Vesper Marine. “Guardian:protect is currently being used by New York Power Authority (NYPA) to protect subsea power cables in Long Island Sound between Connecticut and New York. NYPA commissioned us to develop a solution in early 2016 after two anchor strikes cost the organization tens of millions of dollars to repair. Guardian helps NYPA, North America’s largest government power authority, protect the environment and their critical infrastructure from damage.”
The PEA trial will create virtual buoys across the full length of the subsea power cables that will be seen on vessels’ navigation displays making ship operators aware of the cables. Vessel location, direction, speed and other information will be continuously monitored and recorded by a Guardian Virtual AIS Station and automatically analyzed with customized rules to determine if they present an anchoring risk. If a vessel appears to be anchoring within the cable zone, an alert is automatically sent to the PEA team, while a special AIS text message will be transmitted directly to the vessel’s navigation system.
“The Guardian solution should address multiple challenges in protecting these essential power cables by removing any delay communicating to vessels posing a risk,” said Nongluck Suwanjumrat, director, Electrical Maintenance Division, PEA. “This is critical to ensure we continuously supply power to businesses and people, and improve the safety of vessels and personnel in the area.”
For more information on the Guardian:protect, Vesper Marine or its entire product line, visit www.vespermarine.com.
