APC Media, the publishing company behind the brands Transformer Technology, Power Systems Technology, and Women in Power Systems, participated in this year's CWIEME event in Berlin. At the event, we had the opportunity to connect with influential stakeholders in the industry and are delighted to present an interview featuring Armando Pastore, the product and technology leader at GE Grid Solutions.
Armando, thank you so much for meeting with us and sitting down with us. It's lovely to have you.
Armando Pastore: Thank you.
Could you please tell us a little bit about the company's history and experience in the industry and the products and services that you offer?
AP: Yes of course. We are part of GE Grid Solutions Company serving Customers with different products and services like HV/MV equipment, grid automation with protection and relays, and assets for life-cycle management. Our mission is to support the Customers for a reliable energy transmission from generators points to the end users. In particular, the GE unit to which I belong has a recognized expertise in the design and manufacturing of high-voltage bushings, they are crucial and key components to connect the transformer to the grid. We can provide customers with generator bushings, transformer bushings up to 1100kV, and special applications for HVDC links using different technologies. In May we had a centenary event from the company foundation, and it was an important milestone shared with employees, customers, and suppliers to celebrate 100 years of close relationship.
How does the global market for bushings change in your opinion? And what about the technology trend in the coming years? Where do you see it going?
AP: I have to say that the global transformer bushings market is expected to witness strong growth up to 2030. The key drivers contributing to the growth are grid transition and interconnection with renewable energy (hydro, wind, solar PV), rapid urbanization activities, increasing industrialization in various economies, and the countries' energy independence. Concerning the trend, we can say that dry technologies are becoming dominant with respect to traditional ones like OIP. There are many drivers behind the change. Firstly, improving safety for people and high voltage surrounding equipment, making products which are more eco-friendly, and, last but not least, the pollution due to climate change is playing a role in supporting dry technologies equipped with hollow composite insulators instead of traditional insulating materials like porcelains.
Are there any upcoming projects or partnerships that GE Grid Solutions is going to work on and that you would particularly be excited about sharing?
AP: Yes, we are carrying out many projects in terms of research and development, also in collaboration with some European research institutes for new insulating materials modeling and characterization. We have also intensive test program activities for our products to demonstrate reliability during the operation in the most severe conditions. I'm referring for example to the seismic test to simulate earthquakes event and the scope is of course to prove the reliability and the mechanical strength of our products. In this regard, we are completing a special seismic test on a 12 mt long wall bushing for an important System Operator.
What do you see as the biggest challenge facing this industry currently and how is GE Grid Solutions addressing those challenges?
AP: The main challenge I currently see for the industry are cost reduction, product performance improvement, and the most important one: reliability. The reliability is felt by our customers as critical to quality elements and also monitoring systems to predict in advance any deviation are meeting increasingly widespread use to avoid unplanned outages.
What are your thoughts on CWIEME this year so far? And have you seen any interesting developments or trends being showcased at the event?
AP: Yeh. I think it’s a great event making the connection between people and industry stakeholders. It’s really exciting to see in the same place all the main companies and technical expertise community of the transmission business. I like very much the brainstorming on each stand with different people or suppliers, sharing information and experience. It’s an important moment acting as motivation and driver for new research and product development. I was impressed by the monitoring and testing instruments and also the attention to the new insulating materials.
What is GE’s vision for the future of this industry and how do you plan to contribute to that future?
AP: we believe that the future will be based on sustainability which means decarbonization integrating renewable assets, reducing energy usage, cost-effective solutions, and reliability. GE is playing a great role in the market and the innovation capability and the ability to stay close to the customers will surely make a difference in the future.
Armando, thank you so much for sitting down with us, and we hope that you have a great rest of the show.
AP: Thank you so much.