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Eaton welcomes move away from sulphur hexafluoride switchgear

11th February 2021

By: Donna Slater

Features Deputy Editor and Chief Photographer

     

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Power management solutions company Eaton welcomes a move by the European Union (EU) away from sulphur hexafluoride- (SF6-) based electrical switchgear toward more environment-friendly alternatives.

Eaton power division business development manager Marcel Buckner, presenting during a webinar on the subject of SF6 switchgear on February 11, says such gear was developed during the 1960s as a better alternative to oil but that leakage of the odourless and colourless gas from gear is polluting the environment.

In 2017, he suggests, greenhouse-gas emissions from leakage of SF6 were the equivalent of putting an extra 1.3-million cars on European roads. “This is expected to grow by 75% by 2030 if steps are not taken to reduce this gas in electrical components globally.”

This growth is a concern because SF6 is a synthetic, man-made gas that is not absorbed or destroyed naturally, lasting in the atmosphere for an estimated 3 200 years after it is released.

To reduce the use of the fluorinated gas in the EU power sector is on the agenda of the European Commission, which has a pending report that will assess whether cost-effective, technically feasible, energy efficient and reliable alternatives exist for mega-voltage secondary switchgear.

Because most SF6 switchgear is manufactured in the Europe, the EU has been looking to change its laws to phase out SF6 switchgear and to instead look at alternative gear.

“Eaton welcomes this report as an important contribution to the available evidence of SF6 use and the available opportunity for replacing it in switchgear. This report signals the need for an early phase-out of SF6 – they suggest as early as 2025 – which needs to be coupled with the right incentives for rapid uptake of SF6 alternatives,” says Buckner.

Owing to its strong bonds between sulphur and chlorine atoms SF6 is inert and under normal circumstances the gas has certain electrical properties that make it suitable for use in insulation and switching medium in switchgear for power distribution, Buckner states.

There are three principle designs for SF6-insulated switchgear, two being control pressure systems and another being closed pressure systems.

The control pressure systems come with “unavoidable” releasing of SF6 at some point in their service life, Buckner says. This is because the systems require maintenance during the course of their service life at which point a leakage occurs. Leakage also occurs when the units are dismantled at the end of their life.

Although he says emissions from these systems are claimed to be limited, they can never “realistically be zero”.

According to research Buckner has conducted, he suggests there are currently about one-million kilogrammes of SF6 installed globally.

However, the toxic fumes released with dismantling is what really concerns Eaton, he says, adding that recycling is also very costly. The gas is long-lived and poses “serious problems” to global warming. “1 kg of SF6 is the equivalent of 10 000 ℓ of burned gasoline.”

To meet potential market demand for SF6 alternatives, Buckner says, in early 2002, Eaton launched SF6-free switchgear – notably its vacuum switchgear.

At the time, he says, Eaton was well ahead of developing alternatives such as vacuum interrupters for switching.

“The construction of our switchgear uses conditioned air in a sealed tank to keep out moisture and [conducts] switches in a vacuum.”

This means that switches are undertaken in a maintenance-free manner, with a switch's life of about 50 000 interruptions owing to high-tech production and modern vacuum interruption designs with ceramic housings.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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