About Smart Cable Guard

Smart Cable Guard is the result of more than two decades of expert development and in-field testing.  

In 2000, visionaries within the Dutch electricity network industry posed a question: Is it possible to detect weak spots without digging up the cable? A consortium combining academic and industry partners began exploring this question. Five years later the first proof-of-principle demonstrator showed such a system was possible.

Proven technology

Consortium partners DNV and Alliander saw the potential in that demonstrator and set about developing it into an industrial solution. To do that, DNV drew on our wide-ranging knowledge of power cables, partial discharge activity and the electricity distribution industry. This allowed us to develop a cable monitoring system with excellent sensitivity. In 2012, the first Smart Cable Guard systems were deployed in Alliander’s distribution network with results that continue to impress. 

Over time, the Smart Cable Guard concept has been refined and upgraded. The solution was made more cost effective. Meanwhile, machine learning and artificial intelligence expertise improved noise reduction to eliminate false positives. This led to today’s solution – which some users have reported has reduced distribution cable failures by 70%.

Technical support

But Smart Cable Guard is more than just the hardware and software. Each installation receives expert technical support at all stages: from planning to operation. This ensures that your Smart Cable Guard installation is optimized to your specific needs. And that you receive tailored recommendations on what actions to take after an alert, based on our extensive industry experience. 

So it’s no surprise that grid operators around the world are increasingly turning to Smart Cable Guard to improve reliability in their distribution networks.