Patent ID: 10641424

Abstract:
A subsea direct electric heating system has a subsea pipeline which has an electrically conducting pipeline material, and a first piggyback cable extending along a portion of the subsea pipeline, electrically connected in series with the subsea pipeline. The system further comprises a topside AC power supply and a power feeder cable which extends from the topside AC power supply to a subsea location. The power feeder cable feeds electric power to the first piggyback cable and the pipeline, resulting in a heating of the pipeline. In order to improve power conditions in the system, the arrangement for reducing the reactive component of the power comprises the power feeder cable, the power feeder cable having a distributed capacitance which is sufficient, in the absence of a capacitor, to result in a power factor of an electric circuit comprising the power feeder cable, the subsea pipeline and the piggyback cable in the range 0.9 to 1.0.