Over the past few months, a quiet corner of Somerset has become the backdrop for a groundbreaking moment in the energy sector. What began as a vision more than a decade ago has now taken physical shape—a world-first commercial-scale deployment of Enertechnos’ Capacitive Transfer System (CTS), which teams in the UK designed, built, and tested.
This site is the culmination of ten years of innovation. From early-stage testing to today’s demonstration-ready setup, the project has progressed through careful, ambitious phases, bringing together advanced equipment, real-world conditions, and a dedicated team determined to redefine the future of energy distribution.
From February to May 2025, the Enertechnos engineering team travelled to Wiveliscombe, in Somerset, to begin the foundational build and test installation, with support from the Net Zero Technology Centre. They assembled three 60kW load bank frames to simulate operational loads, connected the system to a 250kVA generator and transformer to test the cable at elevated voltages, and installed two CTS control and protection cabinets to ensure safe and stable performance. The team laid fibre optic cable alongside the main cable to measure the thermal response under load with high precision. This step is vital for validating the distributed temperature along the entire length of the cable when operational.
The team prepared the site for the installation of 2km of three-phase CTS cable. When the cable arrived in early May, they linked it to six junction boxes, which they mounted on the control room container and equipped with measuring sensors to continuously track voltages and currents throughout the system during test operations. These elements form the key parts of the CTS Marinisation Project—a major advance in understanding how CTS performs under practical conditions, both on land and offshore in the future.
The trials are now underway to emulate utility-grade conditions at 50/60Hz while testing at higher frequencies of up to 1000Hz, which cover use cases in aviation (400Hz), aerospace, and defence, and mark a crucial stage in raising CTS from Technology Readiness Level 6 to TRL 7.
These tests put CTS technology through its paces in a real-world environment, helping to prove not just functionality, but long-term reliability and cross-sector flexibility.
And while we’re proud of how far we’ve come, the work isn’t over.
As we reach early July, we are opening the site to visitors. What we’ve built here is a true world-first—a commercial-scale CTS installation that goes beyond diagrams and models to show what this technology can do in the real world. With advanced monitoring and control throughout, this test environment offers tangible, demonstrable proof of CTS’s potential to meet the demands of a rapidly changing energy sector.
Photos and drone footage can only tell part of the story. Seeing the site in person brings home the scale and achievement of the work the team is doing. The entire team has put in a huge effort, from initial planning and factory production to cable laying and systems integration, and their skill, persistence, and determination have brought us to this point.
Enertechnos’ work in Somerset is a living demonstration of how advanced cable innovation can meet grid challenges head-on. And we’re not stopping here.
