SABRES
National Grid research project on how seabed life responds to subsea cable electromagnetic fields.
National Grid Electricity Transmission awarded the SABRES research contract on 6 October 2026, to study how seabed life reacts to the electromagnetic fields around subsea power cables. Neither the contractor nor the value has been published.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Do the electromagnetic fields around subsea cables change seabed life?
Background
SABRES is a research project commissioned by National Grid Electricity Transmission, the operator of the high-voltage grid in England and Wales. Its title is "benthic response to cable electromagnetic fields": it studies how animals living on or in the seabed react to the electromagnetic fields that subsea power cables emit.
National Grid awarded the contract on 6 October 2026 and has not named the contractor or published the value. On the same day it published a second research award, SCHUBERT, on cable health and security.
The question SABRES addresses already has a wider academic literature around offshore energy cables. A grid operator funding its own study puts the environmental effect of subsea cables on the same research agenda as their physical security.
