Betolar's subsea cable and pipeline protection technology validated

Betolar, a material technology company focused on advancing sustainable and resilient solutions for critical infrastructure and the circular economy, has developed technology that protects subsea cables and pipelines against damage from dragged anchors. The patent application, filed in January 2025, has now been published. The concept has been validated in a customer project supported by recognised offshore engineering partners.

Over the past few years, damage to subsea cables and pipelines has become one of Europe's most pressing security and resilience issues. Several incidents in the Baltic and North Sea have shown how exposed this critical infrastructure is. A single anchor dragged along the seabed can disrupt power, data or gas supplies for months, with significant revenue loss and cost implications.

“Our modern society and our daily lives depend on what lies on the seabed: power cables, data cables and gas pipelines. The Baltic Sea incidents have shown that this infrastructure can be put out of action by a single anchor. We have developed a simple and robust way to stop that from happening, and we are proud that the concept has now been validated together with a customer and recognized offshore engineering experts,” says Vibeke Krohn, CEO of Betolar.

A protective fence on the seabed

Betolar's solution places a protective fence on the seabed at a set distance on both sides of the asset it protects. The fence is built from proven offshore components, which makes it cost-efficient and easy to implement. The structure is designed to protect critical assets from anchors of even the largest vessels. Surveillance and sensor technologies can be built into the fence to monitor the seabed in real time and give early warning of threats.

A patent application was filed in January 2025 and published after the standard 18-month period. The concept has since been validated in a customer project, where offshore engineering experts assessed its technical feasibility.

A fraction of the cost of an incident

The cost of the protection is small compared with the repair and outage costs of a single anchor-dragging incident.

Betolar will first commercialize the technology through engineering projects. Later, the company plans to deliver and install complete protection structures. Betolar is in dialogue with customers across several geographies, assessing how best to protect subsea infrastructure including inter-connectors, gas pipes, offshore wind and other national security assets.  As offshore wind becomes a cornerstone of Europe's energy supply, the cables connecting wind farms to the grid are becoming some of the most important assets on the seabed.

“Protecting critical infrastructure is a growing global market, and the need is urgent. Our technology uses equipment the offshore industry already knows, which means it can be deployed quickly and at a cost that is small compared with the damage it prevents. We are now ready to take it to the market, starting with engineering projects in Northern Europe and then more globally,” says Turkka Saari, Vice President, Critical Infrastructure Protection at Betolar.

Further information

Vibeke Krohn, President and CEO of Betolar, + 47 93 63 44 91, vibeke.krohn@betolar.com

Turkka Saari, Vice President, Critical Infrastructure Protection at Betolar, +358 50 458 0552, turkka.saari@betolar.com.

About Betolar

Betolar is a material technology company focused on advancing sustainable and resilient solutions for critical infrastructure and the circular economy. We develop technologies that enable low‑carbon construction and the efficient utilization of industrial side streams

Betolar was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Kannonkoski, Finland. The company is listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market Finland (ticker: BETOLAR), and its shares are also traded in the US on the OTCQX International market (ticker: BTLRF).

www.betolar.com