In their mission to develop new sustainable switchgear technologies, the Berlin start-up Nuventura GmbH and the switchgear specialist SchaltanlagenZubehör Bad Muskau GmbH (SZM) have achieved an important milestone. Their new medium-voltage (MV) gas insulated switchgear (GIS), Nu1, which replaces, as an insulating medium, the extremely strong greenhouse gas SF6 with dry air, has successfully passed the IEC type tests.
The Nu1 is amongst the first compact GIS on the market for MV distribution networks for voltage levels up to 36 kV that relies entirely on dry (technical) air. In traditional GIS, the gas sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) has played a central role as an insulating and extinguishing medium in MV GIS for power transmission and distribution. In addition to its many advantages in terms of technical properties, SF6 has the disadvantage of having a very high global warming potential: it is 23,500 times more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide and thus the strongest known greenhouse gas. Additionally, SF6 has a long atmospheric lifetime of approximately 3,200 years.
By replacing SF6 with dry air, the Nu1 switchgear is not only completely environmentally sustainable, but also provides other advantages: Firstly, it not only retains the strengths of traditional SF6-using GIS, but also reduces their total cost of ownership compared to equivalent SF6-using GIS. Furthermore, the use of dry air allows for the integration of sensors, which, in turn, allow end users to benefit from a prolonged operational lifetime and enhanced safety features.
Maik Domel, SZM’s managing partner, says: "We are very happy to work together with the young and innovative team of Nuventura. The entire cooperation from the constructive exchange of ideas to the joint production of the first prototypes is very exciting and, as the many passed development and type tests show, also very successful."
Nuventura has been developing the Nu1 switchgear since 2017 and has relied on SZM as an important partner for the development of the drive and the product’s industrialization. "SZM's decades of experience in the field of circuit-breaker development was decisive for us in our choice of partner in 2018. The trusting and results-oriented cooperation is the reason why we want to work with SZM for many years to come," says Dr. Fabian Lemke, Nuventura’s CEO and Co-Founder.
SZM is proud to work together with Nuventura and help make a significant contribution to a future without SF6 in switchgear.
More information in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-dx4bTI940