How JDR Cable Systems’ market-leading solutions continue to drive the UK’s energy transition
With an industry-leading legacy spanning 30 years, JDR Cable Systems (JDR Cables) is at the forefront of submarine power cable solutions, powering the world’s offshore renewable and energy infrastructure. From oil and gas to offshore wind, the company’s comprehensive end-to-end capabilities cover the full project lifecycle, designing, manufacturing, installing, and supporting subsea power cables and control umbilicals that keep critical offshore assets connected and operational. Over the decades, JDR Cables has proudly upheld its position as a key enabler of the energy transition, helping to drive decarbonization and delivering safe, reliable, and innovative solutions in the most challenging marine environments.
Manufacturing Today last spoke with James Young, JDR Cables’ Chief Strategy and Compliance Officer, 12 months ago, when he shed light on the company’s history, expansion, and sustained success – including behind-the-scenes insight into the development of the company’s new high-voltage cable manufacturing facility in Blyth, Northumberland. Now, one year on, JDR Cables is proud to announce it will be delivering cables this year, which will further augment its capabilities in the offshore market. James rejoins us to share these recent developments.
“Over the last 12 months, we’ve continued our investments across all of our business areas,” James begins. “We’ve been completing our high voltage subsea cable manufacturing facility in Blyth, which will produce large, long-length power cables to service the offshore energy industry, as well as supply additional capacity for the energy infrastructure markets. This project is now at the end of its third year, and we shall achieve practical completion in the next few weeks, with the machines being installed and running prototype cables ready for commercial operations.
“This new facility marks the next stage of our expansion at JDR. Our Hartlepool facility has been supplying cables to the offshore wind market for the last 16 years, but our new Blyth facility now gives us the capability to produce higher voltage, long-length cables for the array and export cable markets. It’s been an amazing journey.”
The significant investment made into this new facility is not only expanding JDR Cables’ manufacturing footprint but reshaping the scale and scope of what it can deliver to the offshore market. By strengthening its capabilities in high-voltage and long-length cable production, JDR Cables is well-positioned to meet accelerating demand across offshore wind, energy infrastructure, and decarbonization projects, ready to support the next wave of growth across the sector.
“Our strategy has been focused on looking at a balanced range of products and services across the energy space, which has been beneficial to us. There’s a huge growth in offshore wind, especially since the UK Government announced the results of the CfD Allocation Round 7. At JDR, we work with the Offshore Wind Industry Council and the government to promote the industry, so it’s great to see many of those developers securing their projects. Just to put it in context, the UK has around 16 gigawatts of operational offshore wind today and these projects will add another 8.4 gigawatts, which will be huge progress towards the UK’s offshore wind targets,” James explains.
“At JDR, we’re doubling down on our commitment to offshore renewables with an additional investment into our new Blyth facility,” he continues. “We’re working quite extensively across the energy infrastructure market and are already supplying many products for offshore oil and gas decarbonization. For example, we’re supporting the electrification of oil and gas assets with power cables and control umbilicals, which use both onshore and offshore renewable energy sources to deliver power to offshore production assets, reducing the need for diesel generators and gas turbines to power those platforms.”
Decarbonization and innovation
This commitment to decarbonization and continuous innovation has been instrumental in driving JDR Cables’ continued market leadership. As such, the company has been awarded a multitude of exciting, high-profile contracts – one of which is to deliver a major project for Eni SpA. The contract for Liverpool Bay CCS Limited – a member of the Eni group – will see JDR Cables supply around 100km of 33kV subsea power cables for the Liverpool Bay CO₂ Transportation and Storage project – the backbone of the HyNet Northwest industrial decarbonization cluster. The cables will be designed and produced at JDR Cables’ upgraded Hartlepool facility and new Blyth facility, illustrating the breadth of opportunity that the additional capacity will open.
By aligning such projects with its broader sustainability strategy, JDR Cables is dedicated to strengthening the UK’s decarbonization targets whilst reinforcing its own pathway to Net Zero and supporting its network to do the same. “Companywide, we’re looking at how we can improve our sustainability credentials in terms of our emissions and progressing our business towards supporting Net Zero. A key part of this is the commitment that we’ve already given to our science-based targets initiative, which will see us cut our Scope 3 emissions by 32.5 percent by 2033,” James emphasizes. “This year, a key initiative for us is to develop our sustainable procurement to assist in our goals to decarbonize and, to do that, we’re working very closely with our supply chain partners – not only providing them with cables for green energy but doing so in an ever-improving way in terms of the reduction of environmental impact.”
As JDR Cables enters its next phase of growth, the completion of its Blyth facility marks a new evolutionary chapter in its trajectory as it continues to drive the UK’s energy transition. By combining advanced manufacturing, strategic investments, and an unwavering commitment to its Net Zero goal, the company upholds its position as a trusted partner to developers across all facets of energy infrastructure.
“It’s an exciting time for us as we anticipate the projects to come through the new facility. In addition to our increased product capabilities, we are also enhancing our cable services offering to our customers. This allows us to share our extensive knowledge and experience from over 50 offshore renewable energy projects and more than 4000 km of subsea power cables delivered, to the benefit of new developments. We’re delighted to be working with Ørsted on their Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm– another major Array Cable Testing and Termination project. By utilizing our state-of-the-art RTS testing system from HIGHVOLT, we will ensure that all array cables are fully integrated into the offshore electrical infrastructure and operating safely and reliably. In addition to supporting our offshore wind customers, JDR also have several related projects in the pipeline that are not only going to help decarbonize the production of oil and gas, but the industry as a whole. Everything we’re working on is towards a sustainable transition to our Net Zero future – adding renewables, carbon capture, and storage. We continue to see our role as a key enabler of that transition,” James affirms, concluding our conversation.
“Above all else, we’re looking forward to being our customers’ reliable partner of choice to deliver all the infrastructure cabling that they need. It’s an exciting time to be in this industry; I’m sure there’ll be challenges, but we’re very optimistic about our growth over the next five years.”
