GE: awarded $3.7m to accelerate decarbonization from Dept. of Energy

GE (NYSE-GE) announced today it has been awarded a total of US $3.7 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) for two related projects to help accelerate the decarbonization of the U.S. electrical grid.

The first award in the amount of $2.3 million to GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions business relates to the development of a sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆)-free 245 kilovolt (kV) dead tank circuit-breaker¹. The new circuit-breaker will use GE’s game-changing g³ (pronounced “g”- cubed) gas insulating and switching technology, which has a global warming potential that is 99% less compared with SF₆², to deliver the same high performance as a traditional SF₆ circuit-breaker. As g³ products have the same dimensions as SF₆ equipment, there is no increase in emissions during the manufacturing process from additional material.

The second award to GE Research Center in the amount $1.4 million is part of a $2.7 million project led by the University of Connecticut that will focus on the life cycle management of g³ products, mainly gas leakages and byproduct detection, capture and monitoring tools.

“SF₆ is a significantly more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and can remain in the atmosphere for up to 3,200 years. ARPA-E anticipates that any technology developed to replace SF₆ could have a significant and widespread global impact as countries look to reduce, regulate, or eliminate SF₆ emissions from their electrical grids,” said Dr. Isik Kizilyalli, ARPA-E Associate Director for Technology.

“We are honored that ARPA-E recognizes the importance GE’s g³ gas technology. This funding will help demonstrate the applicability of g³ gas for the commonly used 245 kV voltage level used by transmission operators in the U.S.,” said Danielle Merfeld, Chief Technology Officer at GE Renewable Energy. “One of the major advantages of GE’s g³ gas is that this fluoronitrile-based solution is scalable to higher voltage levels. As part of this project, the 245 kV g³ circuit breaker will be scaled to 550 kV, which helps accelerate market acceptance of SF₆-free technology and support the U.S.’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050.”

Every year, an average of 450 tons of SF₆ gas is installed on the U.S. grid by new manufactured electrical equipment, according to the greenhouse gas inventory data published by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This represents an estimated 11.3 million tons of CO₂-equivalent installed in the country. By replacing the SF₆ gas with GE’s g³ technology, this would represent a significant reduction in CO₂-equivalent, comparable to about 2.5 million passenger vehicles on the road during a one-year period.

The g³ 245 kV dead tank circuit-breaker leverages the expertise acquired in g³ by GE’s technology research center in Villeurbanne, France, and the know-how of its manufacturing site in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, where the new g³ circuit-breaker will be developed and built.

About GE’s Grid Solutions
Grid Solutions, a GE Renewable Energy business, serves customers globally with over 13,000 employees. Grid Solutions provides power utilities and industries worldwide with equipment, systems and services to bring power reliably and efficiently from the point of generation to end power consumers. Grid Solutions is focused on addressing the challenges of the energy transition by enabling the safe and reliable connection of renewable and distributed energy resources to the grid. We electrify the world with advanced grid technologies and accelerate the energy transition. For more about GE’s Grid Solutions, visit https://www.gegridsolutions.com.

About GE’s g³ gas
GE’s alternative to SF₆ is g³ insulating and switching gas representing the culmination of a decade of research and development by its teams in France, Germany and Switzerland in collaboration with 3M Company. The g³ gas mixture is based on carbon dioxide, oxygen, and 3M™ Novec™ 4710 Dielectric Fluid from the 3M fluoronitrile family. Fluoronitrile was identified by R&D experts as the most suitable additive to CO₂ and O₂ to reach the targeted environmental benefit of an alternative to SF₆, without compromising the equipment’s technical performance and footprint. As a result, the global warming potential (GWP) of GE’s g³ gas is 99% lower as compared to SF₆.

Today, 25 leading electrical utilities have already adopted GE’s g³ products for their high voltage networks, avoiding the addition of more than a million tons of CO₂ equivalent to the grid. That’s the equivalent of removing about 476,000 petrol cars from the road for one year.

GE’s g³ gas-insulated products are currently available for live-tank circuit-breakers and gas-insulated substations (GIS) up to 145 kV, as well as gas-insulated lines (GIL) up to 420 kV. More about g³ – GE’s alternative to SF₆. More about g³ development, GE’s fluoronitrile based gas mixture: In search of an SF₆ replacement | Think Grid (think-grid.org)

Source and content: GE