FRANCE – GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions (GE) has been awarded $2.9 million through the European Commission’s LIFE climate action program to help fund the development of a SF₆-free g³ live tank circuit-breaker.

The new circuit-breaker will rely on GE’s g³ gas technology to deliver the same performance and compact dimensional footprint as a traditional SF₆ circuit-breaker, the company said in a press release.

EU regulation aims to cut F-gas emissions by two-thirds by 2030. GE’s g³ gas is an alternative with a 99% smaller global warming potential (GWP) than SF₆.

The new GE air-insulated 245 kV g³ live tank circuit-breaker, which will be based on International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards, is the second g³ gas project co-funded by the EU. In 2019, GE received funding for a g³ gas-insulated 420 kV circuit-breaker, also as part of the EU LIFE Program.

"The EU’s co-funding of a g³ 245 kV live tank circuit-breaker will help demonstrate the applicability of GE’s g³ gas for this commonly used voltage level by transmission operators around the world, as well as outdoor applications down to -30°C,” said Vera Silva, Chief Technology Officer at GE’s Grid Solutions.

“The new g³ 245 kV live tank circuit-breakers, once ramped up together with 420 kV voltage level, will help avoid the addition of some 52,000 tons of CO₂ equivalent annually on to the European grid alone and more – as we expect other continents to adopt our g³ gas technology.”

GE’s Grid Solutions teams will work on the project with several European partners, including Germany’s Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology, which will build a scientific database of g³ gas properties. Industrial partners will help optimize the environmental impact of the new circuit-breaker throughout its entire life cycle.

A recent EU Commission report concluded that fluoronitrile-based gas mixtures such as g³ gas may be the only insulating and switching gas alternative to SF₆ when space is a constraint - such as in urban areas - because fluoronitrile-based gas products feature the same compactness and performance as traditional SF₆ equipment, unlike other SF₆-free solutions.

25 leading electrical utilities have already adopted GE’s g³ products for their HV networks, avoiding the addition of more than a million tons of CO₂ equivalent to the grid.

Source: GE