Power electronics for subsea systems: Challenges and opportunities

The subsea industry has become more significant in recent years because a large amount of new oil fields are located in deep water, a term often used to describe offshore projects located in water depths greater than about 600 feet. In order to extract the subsea oil and gas, a number of electrical systems are deployed. Many of these electrical systems need high-reliability power grid and power control units located on the seabed. Power electronics plays a major role in providing the required power to the various electrical systems. But there are many challenges for deploying power converters under the seabed. This paper presents the requirements and challenges of power electronics systems operating in subsea environment, use of power electronics for efficient transmission of power from the offshore platform or from the shore to the subsea electrical loads; variable speed drive systems; and research areas related to power electronics for subsea electrical systems.