GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions (GE) and Hitachi ABB Power Grids signed a landmark agreement that paves the way for a standard sulfur hexafluoride-free solution for high-voltage equipment.
On April 21, 2021 GE and Hitachi ABB announced a non-exclusive, cross-licensing agreement related to the use of an alternative gas to sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) used in high voltage equipment, GE said in a press release.
Under this landmark agreement announced just before Earth Day 2021, both companies will share complementary intellectual property related to their respective SF6-free solutions. This will help accelerate the use of fluoronitrile-based eco-efficient insulation and switching gas in high-voltage equipment as an alternative to SF6.
A recent EU Commission report concluded that fluorinitrile-based gas mixtures may be the only insulating and switching gas alternative to SF6 when space is a constraint.
“GE pioneered this fluoronitrile-based gas which we named g3 and subsequently developed a broad SF6-free product range,” said Heiner Markhoff, CEO of GE’s Grid Solutions. “Our g3 SF6-free products have been commercially available since 2015 and feature the same compactness and performance as traditional SF6 equipment.”
“As a technology leader, we have always been at the frontier of gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) that became a key enabler for urbanization and installed the very first SF6-free GIS that significantly reduces carbon footprint,” said Markus Heimbach, Managing Director of the High Voltage Products business in Hitachi ABB Power Grids.
Today’s agreement paves the way for a standard SF6-free solution for high-voltage equipment that would enable utilities and industries to accelerate their reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, while facilitating their ability to plan, as well as operate and maintain their networks thanks to standardized services and the use of the same auxiliary equipment.
The two companies will keep the product development, manufacturing, sales, marketing and service activities of their gas solutions fully independent. Each company will continue to independently grant and set terms of licenses to its respective intellectual property, hence preserving supplier base diversity for the industry and fair competition.
Source: GE Grid Solutions