Dec 5th, 2025
Live Round Table:
Interconnector Cables
Our Subsea Power Trunk Lines
Interconnectors are central to how nations stabilise power grids, trade electricity, and balance renewable energy supply.
While offshore wind and renewable projects capture attention, the cables that make energy exchange possible are rarely discussed in accessible detail.
In this round table, we invited industry expert to
- Demystify an underreported sector
- Share cross‑disciplinary expertise that connects technical, operational, and financial perspectives, showing how offshore, telecom, and grid experience align.
- Discuss workforce demand & the skills that are needed
What to Expect
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A better understanding of the Interconnector Cable market
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Critical issues to be considered during planning and construction
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How these schemes are financed and managed
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How skills used in Offshore Wind projects can be adapted for Interconnector Cable projects
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Live Q&A
Date & Time
Please reference the time below for your corresponding local time zone.
DATE: 5 December, 2025 (Friday)
DURATION: 1 Hour
TIME: 10:00 GMT (London Time)
LOCATION: Online via Teams
United Kingdom
10:00 (GMT)
Central Europe
11:00 (CET)
Taipei, Taiwan
18:00 (CST)
Melbourne, Australia
21:00 (AEDT)
LIVE Q&A
Submit your questions before 3 Dec, 2025
There will be a 15 minute Q&A session towards the end. Please submit your questions in the registration form before 5 Dec, 2025.
Please note: We CANNOT guarantee that all questions will be answered, however submitting prior to the round table will help us prioritise them based on relevancy.
Your Host & Panel Experts
Over 100 years of combined experience
Chris Sturgeon
Managing Director, Red Penguin Marine
Chris is Founder and Chief Executive of Red Penguin, which he established to provide experience-based consultant engineering services and expert support across the submarine cable business. He is a master mariner with over 40 years in the marine industry, 35 of which have been within the subsea cable and energy sectors.
Chris’ experience benefits from 10 years in command of cable ships and managing marine operations, together with extensive work in the development and delivery of cable projects, Chris now provides advisory, expert and marine survey services, as well as continuing to lead Red Penguin.
Having worked extensively across the industry on a range of critical infrastructure projects, he has experience across industry sector collaborations and best practice initiatives to identify and control risk, to assist in the resolution of disputes and to maintain the high standards necessary to achieve safe and high-quality operations at sea.
Søren Valdemar Kjær
Senior Offshore Cable Installation Specialist
Søren has more than 15 years of experience in offshore cable engineering and installation, specializing in high-voltage transmission systems for interconnectors and offshore wind farms. His career began in the Danish energy sector, where he developed expertise in cable route planning, geotechnical risk assessment, and offshore construction strategies.
He has worked on major offshore wind projects such as Hornsea Project One, Race Bank, and Westermost Rough, focusing on export and array cable installation in challenging seabed conditions. Søren also contributed to strategic initiatives like Energy Islands, supporting the development of next-generation offshore transmission infrastructure.
As Deputy Program Manager in the Product Line – Offshore Cable Installation at Ørsted, Søren acted as the primary point of contact for all PD projects related to cable installation. His responsibilities included managing deliverables from the Offshore Installation Management team, adapting master documentation for each project, developing cable routes for consenting and permitting, and engineering cost-efficient technical solutions. He ensured compliance with best practices and quality assurance processes while providing technical expertise during permitting applications.
In addition to project delivery, Søren is an active Cigré Task Force and Working Group Member (B1.95), focusing on the mechanical performance and limits of submarine cables through advanced modeling and testing. He holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Electrical Engineering from DTU – Technical University of Denmark, combining academic rigor with practical offshore experience to deliver reliable and efficient infrastructure.
Stuart Wilson
Route Engineering and Survey Manager
OceanIQ (part of the Global Marine Group)
Stuart joined Global Marine Group, a leading worldwide submarine cable installation and maintenance provider, 25 years ago. Following other roles across the business including managing the Group’s Atlantic Cable Maintenance Agreement contract, since 2009 he has led the Route Engineering and Survey team at OceanIQ, the Group’s subsea cable data, survey, route engineering, permitting and consultancy business. Stuart is a specialist in the submarine cable industry with experience and qualifications in associated hydrographic survey, GIS and marine cable operations. OceanIQ have been involved in both telecoms and power cable projects worldwide including interconnector projects such as the HVDC Estlink cable connecting Finland to Estonia, BritNed, numerous short HVAC power interconnectors for SSEN and other inter-island interconnectors in Greece, the Philippines and the Middle East.
Chris Weaver
Senior Instructor, RECOA
Chris Weaver has more than 40 years of seagoing experience, since starting as a marine science student aboard a research vessel in the mid-1970s. His early career took him through the British Royal Navy as a seaman officer, later specializing as a hydrographic surveyor. He then worked on subsea projects for Shell, BP, Total, ENI, and other smaller oil & gas operators, before becoming a shipboard project manager for Alcatel Submarine Networks.
Between 2006 and 2016 Chris was employed in various West African oil field projects, managing offshore construction and maintenance work in Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, and Ghana during the winter, and power cable installation at various European offshore wind farms during the summer months.
Chris became involved in training in 2014 when he designed the Renewables Offshore Client Representative course and presented it as classroom training in the UK over the following four years.
About RECOA's Round Table
RECOA's Round Table events serve as an industry forum where industry experts delve into specific industry topics relevant to today's landscape.
The format involves a 40-minute round table discussion featuring key topic discussions. Each topic is addressed by industry experts, who share their insight and opinions.
Following the round table, there will be a 15-minute live Q&A session where RECOA's host will present questions from the audience. If there's a desire to delve deeper into the discussion or pose additional questions, participants can do so on RECOA's Professional Student Community. Here, the panelists will directly respond to queries and continue the conversation.