The key features of these Prysmian products are absence of impregnating fluids and/or pressure feeding requirements, reduced cable weight and dimensions as well as relative ease of jointing.
MV submarine cables can be either EPR or XLPE insulated. In most cases, XLPE requires an impervious metallic sheath (e.g. lead sheath) to be applied over each core to avoid direct contact with water. EPR compounds can be formulated in such a way as to give an excellent performance in terms of both electrical reliability and ageing, thus removing the need for an impervious metallic sheath (the so called “Wet Design”).
