GE Power’s Grid Solutions has unveiled new products that address customers’ needs to adapt to a more digitalized, decentralized and decarbonized energy electric grid. In the past, a simpler grid model transmitted electricity from large generation plants to end users. However, with carbon dioxide levels the highest they have ever been in 800,000 years, a modern grid is key to integrate renewable energy resources effectively as they are forecasted to represent two-thirds of global net electricity by 2050.
According to GE, the F35 GIS is environmentally friendly and features an advanced SF6 sealing system. Full digital monitoring control and protection capabilities, and an optimized user interface enable the F35 to be readily integrated into a smart grid.
“The global energy landscape is undergoing a massive transformation,” said Reinaldo Garcia, president and CEO of GE Power’s Grid Solutions business. “The grid of the future will require smarter, faster, and more interoperable solutions to ensure resiliency, efficiency, and security. That’s why our Grid Solutions team is focused on investing in and delivering new digital, automation, and HVDC technologies to transform energy networks across the globe.”
By 2050, 66% of the world’s population will be living in urban communities, requiring more power in compact areas. Simultaneously, offshore wind is predicted to reach a cumulative capacity of 115 GW by 2030 — and these wind farms are moving into deeper waters that require larger turbines with higher power ratings. To address these shifts, GE Power’s Grid Solutions business has launched a new compact F35 Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) for 72.5 kV networks.
With a bay volume reduced by 23 and a 30% reduction in SF6 mass this new GIS delivers reliable power to urban, industrial and wind-farm applications. For wind-turbines and collection platforms specifically, this enhanced design allows the power voltage transformer to feed auxiliaries under “no wind” conditions, making it the ideal interface for offshore wind applications.
In addition, GE Power’s Grid Solutions business has created digitally connected solutions to increase efficiency and reliability of the network and it’s connected assets, including:
- “Digital Twin” for Power Transformers enables effective asset performance management to extend asset life and maximize operational performance. Advanced sensor technology with a digitalized secondary system delivers condition-based data and statistic models to build a software-enabled model of the transformer or even the entire substation: the twin. This interactive model allows operators to move from reactive to predictive maintenance solutions and improve system efficiency.
- Intelligent Digital Substations enable utility operators to maximize asset and substation utilization up to 30%. Coupling powerful visualization tools with the digitization of primary substation equipment and secondary systems, operators can collect and analyze critical data to proactively detect potential failures up to six months in advance.
- Asset Lifecycle Management Services include a comprehensive portfolio of methods to collect distribution and transmission asset health data through a set of proven analytics and consulting services. These services are tailored to reduce failure rates by up to 50%, reduce maintenance costs by up to 25% and extend asset life by up to 20%. By incorporating the use of data, these end-to-end services optimize grid asset management strategies.
- Advanced EMS with full WAMS enhancement provides the situational awareness operators need to increase network use and stability allowing more renewable integration and network automation.
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