Accelerating
Grid Decarbonization
LIFE21-CCM-FR-LIFE-SF₆ FREE-GIS/101074338
This project is co-funded by the EU LIFE
Programme
LIFE Projects
The LIFE development projects for gas-insulated high-voltage substations are fully in
line with GE Vernova’s sustainability framework, which pillars are electrification,
decarbonization, thrive and conserve. They aim to accelerate the energy transition by
strengthening electricity grids with products whose carbon impact is significantly
reduced while avoiding increasing the need for raw materials, such as aluminum that is
defined by the European Union as critical in its Strategic Raw Material Act. These LIFE
projects fully contribute to the European Union’s ambitions to reduce net greenhouse
gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030. They also fit to the objectives set by the Paris
Agreement (United Nations, UNFCCC, COP 21) to limit the increase in global
temperature to 2 degrees Celsius in this 21st century.
What?
To transfer electricity safely throughout the grid, from the power generation plant to the end customer, electrical substations are used to transform the high voltage into medium and then low voltage, and vice versa. They are also used to secure and route flows of energy. High-voltage electricity substations act as interconnections in electricity transmission grids. Moreover, they are protective equipment used to switch the flow of current if there is a problem on the network.
These substations can be air- or gas-insulated. In the case of air-insulation, the different components such as the circuit-breakers, the disconnectors, the instrument transformers among others are placed outdoor and the air distance between each other serves as insulation. These substations are relatively large. When space is a constraint, these components are placed in hermetic compartment using SF₆ gas as insulating medium. This helps build very compact substations.
420- and 245-kilovolt high-voltage gas insulated substations are found, for example, along long distance electrical lines but also in crowded urban area or offshore platforms dedicated to the oil and gas industry or offshore wind projects, where space is a real constraint.
How?
Our company, together with our project partners, has developed a 420 kilovolts (kV) SF₆ free GIS which circuit breaker development was co-funded by the EU in frame of the LifeGRID project (LIFE 2018). Neither we stopped there, nor the European Union. We continue our development in frame of our Life SF₆-free GIS project (LIFE 2021) to complete Grid Solutions’ SF₆-free GIS range with the B105 Dual Gas GIS dedicated to the 245 kV voltage level. The B105 Dual Gas GIS will use Grid Solutions’ g³ gas instead of SF₆ too. The new B105 GIS will feature the same ratings and same dimensional footprint as the state-of-the-art SF₆ ones, with a drastically reduced global-warming: some 99% less gas global warming potential, comparatively.
To have solutions that help grid operators to never again install SF₆-gas insulated substations on their grids is certainly a great step forward to reduce their carbon footprint and the impact on the climate change. But what about the substations full SF₆ that are already installed and running when studies show that they begin to release more and more SF₆ gas in the atmosphere when reaching 20 years of operation (find source)? That’s just the case tackled by Grid Solutions with its latest LIFE project, SECO2ND LIFE GIS.
Why?
SF₆ has been used in gas-insulated substations for more than 50 years to limit the insulation distance between components, leading to a drastic reduction of the global substation size. It has also been used to extinguish the electrical arc that occurs during circuit breaker switching, since this gas has excellent dielectric properties.
On the other hand, SF₆ is listed at the top of the Kyoto Protocol as one of the gases with very high global warming potential (GWP). Indeed, the GWP of SF₆ is 24,300 times higher than that of CO₂ and, if released, it remains in the atmosphere for more than 1,000 years.
With growing concerns stemming from climate change, decarbonizing the electrical grid is a key challenge for the electrical industry.
As part of its target to reduce the EU’s carbon footprint by 55% before 2035, the EU Commission first encouraged the industry to find ways to look for alternatives to SF₆ for use in electrical equipment. Today, alternatives exist, and the EU Commission supports the move.
With the financial support of the EU Commission’s LIFE Programme for the environment and climate action, GE Vernova’s Grid Solutions business is developing SF₆-free equipment to help grid operators achieve their carbon neutrality goals. The SF₆-free solutions developed in frame of our LIFE projects are part of GRiDEA, our portfolio of solutions designed to accelerate the decarbonization of the grid.
Life
SF6-free GIS
Life SF₆-free GIS projects
The LIFE SF6-FREE GIS project aims to develop a SF₆-
free gas-insulated electrical substation (GIS), Grid
Solutions’ (a GE Vernova business) future B105
Dual Gas. Designed to be low carbon emission while
remaining economically acceptable, it will be suitable
for onshore and offshore applications up to 245 kV -
63 kA.
This will be achieved by using an SF₆ substitute gas
developed by Grid Solutions as well as innovative
digital measurement equipment. The new B105 245
kV will complete the GIS range, allowing the
elimination of SF₆ at all voltage levels up to 420 kV
and the integration of the substation into future
smart grids.
The LIFE project "SECO2ND LIFE GIS" by Grid Solutions (a
GE Vernova business) aims to decarbonize 420-kilovolt
gas-insulated substations (GIS) already installed on the
power grid, using a new SF₆ substitute gas instead.
In doing so, Grid Solutions addresses the urgent need to
phase out one of the most potent and widely used
greenhouse gases in large quantities in the power
industry, mainly in high and medium voltage equipment
and especially in GIS. SF₆ has a GWP 24,300 times more potent
than that of CO₂ with an atmospheric lifetime of 1,000 years),
namely sulfur hexafluoride or SF₆.
This will help grid operators significantly reduce the
carbon footprint of their high voltage substations in
service.
The main objective of the LifeGRID project launched in
2019 was to replace SF₆ in HV circuit breakers
embedded in GIS with a more sustainable alternative,
Grid Solutions business’ g³ gas. The technical feasibility was already
demonstrated at the 145 kV level. However, the
challenge was to scale it up to the highest voltage level
in Europe, which is 420 kV. Ultimately, the project
demonstrated that an SF₆-free European network was
possible.