Neville Wood
Neville Wood
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Benefits of Gas Insulated Switchgear

Incite Energy Engineering Director, Neville Wood, comments on growing capacities of renewable projects being connected to the grid with the transmission market seeing a significant uptake in Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS).  “Compared to traditional Air Insulated Switchgear (AIS), GIS takes up significantly less …

Incite Energy Engineering Director, Neville Wood, comments on growing capacities of renewable projects being connected to the grid with the transmission market seeing a significant uptake in Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS). 

“Compared to traditional Air Insulated Switchgear (AIS), GIS takes up significantly less area (using the gas as the insulating medium instead of air) and reduces on-site construction as they can be pre-commissioned complete in a factory ready for road transport to remote sites. The market for GIS is dominated by GE and Siemens Energy, driven predominantly by large scale renewables, GIS stood at USD21B in 2018 and is expected to reach USD37B by 2026. However, the environmental impact of GIS has always been of concern due to the use of Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6) which is a potent greenhouse gas requiring very stringent operational and end of life controls. Making the announcement in March 2022, GE has managed to successfully demonstrate the use of G3 (Green Gas for Grid) at a 420kV voltage level.
Some of the key benefits:
Same ratings and footprint as SF6 switchgear.
99% less gas global warming potential.
Same temperature range of SF6 switchgear.
This stands to be a massive game changer for the transmission market, something which we at Incite Energy can’t wait to implement.”

Image credit: Client’s recent 132kV GIS installation project in Australia showing the compact nature of the switchgear.

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