Menu
LIFE SF6-FREE HV BREAKER aims to combine g³ gas, an economically sustainable and climate-friendly alternative to SF₆, with an improved interrupting unit technology suitable for outdoor HVLTCBs from 245 kV/50 kA to 550 kV/50 kA and temperatures down to -30°C.
The solution will support electrical grid operators in eliminating the need for SF₆ gas in their air-insulated substations.
Gases show different properties and behaviors depending on what they are. That’s why it is not possible to simply replace the SF₆ gas with the g³ gas.
Set-up of a pilot 245 kV/50 kA HV LTCB at GE’s Grid Solutions premises in Villeurbanne, France to meet TSO requirements for HVLTCB, as required before any onsite installation of a HV transmission network. To achieve this, we will perform technical validation of the solution through implementation tests on the optimized 245 kV GL314g g³ LTCB. The objective is to validate the technical viability of a 245 kV/50 kA high voltage live tank circuit breaker which design has been improved so that it can be used with of GE’s new g³ gas mixture while keeping its dimensions as compact as the commonly used SF6 circuit breaker.
After we have achieved our first objective, our LIFE SF₆-FREE HV BREAKER team will continue the development to upscale the 245 kV g³ LTCB (GE’s future GL314g) to the 420 kV/50 kA and 550 kV/50 kA levels. Existing partners will have the ability to partner with us for g³ technology.
The first switching tests of GE’s future 245 kV 50 kA 50 Hz g³ live tank circuit breaker which has been in development for a year shows very promising results. The short line fault clearance which is one of the most demanding switching performances was reached after just two tests. The result was achieved without any additional capacitor and with a tdl < 0.1 µs, as required by the standard IEC 62271-100 for AIS applications.
Like other g³ switchgear, the performance was validated with a circuit breaker keeping the same footprint as the commonly used SF₆ one. We are confident that this will inspire adoption of g³ technology by transmission system operators. Our team is currently working on the optimization of the interrupting chamber while preserving breaking and dielectric performance.
Since the beginning of this project, we have reduced the climate impact of our live tank circuit breaker with g³. The project avoided the use of around 40 kg of SF₆ , or approximately 934 tons of CO2 equivalent.
Validate the technical viability of the combination of a new gas mixture based on GE’s g³ gas technology and the improved 245 kV/50 kA High Voltage Live Tank Circuit Breaker (HVLTCB) design for temperature down to -30°C
Integrate 420 kV/50 kA and 550 kV/50 kA technical requirements in the new HVLTCB design in order to ensure a solution fitting the whole 50 Hertz (Hz) high voltage (HV) air-insulated substation (AIS) applications.
