Global Electrification Helping Drive Demand for Fibre Optic Technologies

­OMC, a pioneer in optoelectronics design & manufacture, is experiencing growing demand for its industrial fibre-optic datalinks and optoelectronic cable assemblies for high voltage (HV) applications, driven by the increased pace of global electrification. Mission-critical applications include reliable interference-resistant and electrically isolated sensing, monitoring, data transmission, communications and control in infrastructure throughout rail networks and power generation, transmission, distribution and supply. 

Explains William Heath, Commercial Director, OMC: “The dielectric construction and optical isolation of fibre optic technologies mean they are well-suited for high voltage applications due to inherent advantages including enhanced safety, resistance to high voltage breakdown, high bandwidth capabilities with low signal loss, immunity to electromagnetic interference and resistance to environmental factors.”

Global megatrends continue to accelerate demand for electricity: increasing use of AI and cloud-based services, powered by energy-intensive data centres, plus the proliferation of wireless, mobile and smart technologies; electrification of transport (through EVs), appliances (such as heat pumps) and industry (for instance, via electric motors); and rapid growth of renewable energy sources, alongside necessary policy support and investments in grid infrastructure. These factors are all accelerating the shift from fossil fuels to low-carbon electricity to meet rising energy needs and help achieve climate goals.

Global electricity demand is expected to keep growing robustly through 2026, despite economic headwinds, according to a new IEA (International Energy Agency) report. Electricity demand is set to rise by 3.3% in 2025 and 3.7% in 2026 – more than twice as fast as total energy demand growth over the same period. And while this has slowed from the 4.4% surge recorded in 2024, it remains well above the 2015-2023 average of 2.6%. 

While HV applications such as power supplies and power distribution networks can benefit from optical isolation because of the voltages present, achieving consistency of performance in fibre-optic datalinks often proves challenging for many providers. OMC offers a fibre-optic link service specifically tailored to meet the demanding requirements of the high voltage market, designed to produce production quantities of complete fibre-optic datalinks with 100% consistency. 

OMC has combined 40 years of experience in producing glass and polymer fibre optic cable assemblies with its own proprietary Active Alignment technology to ensure that its fibre-optic datalinks perform consistently and reliably from link to link. During manufacture of its housed optical transmitters (Tx) and receivers (Rx), OMC powers on each active element and tunes the performance of the device to ensure that the electro-optical characteristics of each and every device fall within a customer-specific performance window, exactly matching the required performance specification.

Equally, when manufacturing the corresponding optical fibre cable assembly to be used between the Tx/Rx, OMC’s unique production techniques help ensure a very high level of consistency of link attenuation which is matched to the Tx/Rx performance window, meaning that each and every link can be expected to function for the full design life, regardless of how the transmitters, receivers and cables are paired during assembly/installation.

“Most manufacturers of optical fibre cables don’t touch the transmitter/receiver part of the link – and similarly, few Tx/Rx providers are specialists in fibre-optic cable assemblies,” explains Heath. “In our experience, most customers don’t want to get involved in either area: they simply have an electrical signal at point A and want a link that will convert it to an optical signal, transmit it, and convert it back to an electrical signal at point B safely, reliably and consistently from link to link. The problem is particularly apparent in high voltage applications, where tolerances can be very tight, and a lack of consistency between transmitter, receiver and cable characteristics means that customers must often go through a lengthy and costly selection process to yield sufficient complete links to satisfy a production demand.