Float repairs delay Cornwall Wave Hub cable laying

The Wave Hub is due to undergo tests in the autumn

Engineers have again had to delay bringing a cable ashore for a wave energy scheme in Cornwall to repair cable floats.

The team behind the £42m project had hoped to begin bringing the cable ashore on Thursday morning. It has now been delayed until the evening.

The cable for the Wave Hub project is being floated to shore from a ship 2km (1.25 miles) offshore near Hayle.

Weather and technical problems have delayed the project for a week.

Bags deflating

Project manager Jim Cole said of the latest delay: "We've come up with a little bit of bad luck.

"Some of the cable floatation bags started deflating after we got them into the water.

"When you start to pull back, you always run the risk of damaging it and making it worse. It was decided it was easier to do the repairs with the buoyancies in water."

Once the cable end is floated to about 200m (650ft) off Hayle Towans Beach in St Ives Bay, it will be winched up the beach and joined to a nearby electricity substation.

Afterwards, the ship Nordica will sail out about 14km (9 miles), laying cable to what will be the wave hub's final location about 16km (10 miles) offshore.

A total of 25km (15 miles) of cable will be laid. The cable is longer than the 16km because it is to be buried under the sea bed

The Nordica will then lower the 12-tonne Wave Hub on to the sea bed.

The hub, which will send energy from machines on the sea surface to wave power units ashore which link to the National Grid, is due to undergo a series of tests in the autumn.