Introduction: It is well known that ENWLs asset base contains a significant population of buried cables and that a number of these cables are at or near to their original design life. The capital value of these assets is considerable and it would be impracticable from both a financial and operation perspective to embark on wholesale replacement simply based on age. Condition Based Risk Management (CBRM) is a methodology that uses all available knowledge, experience and information relating to physical assets in order to define the present condition of the asset and then estimate future performance on the basis of ongoing degradation. The results can then be used to quantify the risks relating to the assets and evaluate the effect (in terms of risk) of different management options.

The project is concerned with developing ENWLs ability to model our cable assets by adopting a more detailed methodology of condition assessment and combining this enhanced understanding with the CBRM methodologies already used for above ground assets.

Objectives: The project aimed to apply specific condition assessment techniques including physical examination of cable samples recovered at the time of faults and improved recording of fault related information including specific location, operational history, cable type / age, cause of fault etc to available cable samples. Such information should enable a better understanding of generic degradation processes and rates and enable the identification of individual cables approaching end of life.