Solid insulated switchgear market favored

All kinds of signs show that due to the inherent advantages of environmental protection and maintenance-free compared to SF6 insulated switchgear, solid insulated switchgear has been increasingly concerned and favored by the industry.

As a leader in the medium voltage switchgear market, Schneider Electric also keenly captures this market trend. With its leading position in technology research and development and deep analysis of the Chinese market, Schneider Electric hopes to seize the market of solid insulated switchgear. Opportunity and further consolidate its leading position in the medium voltage switch market.

Keep up with market trends

“China is one of the most important medium-voltage switchgear markets in the world. If you lose the Chinese market, it is equivalent to losing the world.” Chen Ke, director of medium-voltage marketing division of Schneider Electric Energy Division, defined China's medium-voltage switchgear market.

In recent years, with the continuous advancement of China’s urbanization construction and the acceleration of smart grid construction, the market’s demand for medium voltage switches continues to expand. "Globally, the market demand for medium voltage primary distribution switchgear is probably 1.1 million to 1.2 million units per year, and the Chinese market occupies half of its share. In the secondary power distribution market, China's market demand is likely to occupy global The share of 30%." Ke Ke said that solid insulated switchgear as a new area, the market demand is further expanding.

This also confirms the new trend in the development of the switchgear market in recent years.

On August 31, 2011, the State Grid Corporation of China released the "National Grid Corporation's first batch of key promotion new technology catalogue" (National Grid Corporation [2011] No. 1285). The document states: "More stringent technical reliability and environmental protection requirements. According to development trends, the solid insulated ring network cabinet has the tendency to completely replace the SF6 gas-insulated ring main unit."

At the same time, on March 2, 2012, the State Grid Corporation of China issued the enterprise standard Q/GDW730-2012 "12kV Solid Insulated RMU Technical Specifications" as a major technological innovation promotion of the State Grid Corporation of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan", solid insulation. Ring network cabinets are increasingly concerned and favored by the industry.

To this end, Schneider Electric aimed at this market heavy attack, at the end of 2012, introduced to the market a new generation of medium-voltage switchgear equipment - Premset, which brings great technical innovation to the medium voltage distribution field. At present, this product is ready for the production line in China and will fully enter the Chinese market in the future.

The shielded solid insulation technology (2SIS) used by Premset integrates the advantages of Air Insulated Switchgear (AIS) and Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) and is applied to all functional units to protect the entire switchgear. The introduction of this technology allows the operation of switchgears to be safer, simpler, more efficient, environmentally friendly, effective in dealing with various harsh environments, and extending their service life.

On this basis, Premset also adopted a more secure, user-friendly three-position switchgear (closing, opening and isolation and grounding) integrated switch architecture, greatly reducing the operator's risk and further ensuring safety. In addition, its flexible and compact functional module design allows for quick and easy installation, upgrades and maintenance, is suitable for any combination of solutions, and reduces the footprint of 50% of the equipment.

"With high technological content, reasonable design and compact structure, Premset is expected to become the mainstream product of China's smart grid medium voltage system." This is the evaluation of Zheng Jun, president of Xi'an High Voltage Electric Research Institute, at the Premset new product launch conference.

Master the core competitiveness

In the face of the emerging market of solid insulated switchgear cabinets, domestic and foreign manufacturers have made great efforts and market competition has become extremely fierce. In the face of this competitive situation, Ke Hao appears to be calm.

“Schneider Electric has a complete industrial system and a leading innovation mechanism. This is the key that we have been leading the market in terms of technology,” said Ke.

In 2010, Schneider Electric's Energy Division basically completed its layout in the Chinese market since it merged with Areva Power Transmission and Distribution's medium voltage distribution business. “We can provide the market with everything from basic components to core components, as well as packaged products and solutions. We will compete with the Chinese market with this complete industrial system.” In Ko Tao's view, this is Schneider Electric's core advantage in market competition.

In addition, Schneider Electric's innovation system is also the source of its ability to lead the market and continuously provide revolutionary products to its sources. Premset is the product of this innovative system.

Premset has gone through 10 years from conception to product launch.

Looking back at this process, Ke Hao felt a lot of emotion. "Ten years ago, in order to make air-insulated middle cabinets safer and more reliable, the world's top manufacturers are racking their brains to think of various ways." Ke Ke recalled that some manufacturers have built epoxy in the cabinets. The resin, or where the current leaked, was plugged with rubber, resulting in a removable switchgear that became a bandaged switchgear in 2000.

Other manufacturers have begun to produce SF6 gas-insulated switchgear. Although, the SF6 gas-insulated switchgear has a small size and a compact structure that is not affected by external environmental factors and is highly adaptable. However, SF6 gas is one of the six greenhouse gases recognized by the world. This gas will inevitably leak and discharge in the process of inflation, operation and recycling, and it will become a major source of pollution in the atmospheric environment.

“At that time, we thought that there was no other way to make the switchgear both highly reliable and it would not generate more air pollution,” Ke said, after many arguments and analysis, Schneider Electric The R&D team proposed the idea of ​​developing a solid insulated switchgear.

For this reason, Schneider Electric completed the basic research work of the solid insulated switchgear in 5 years and selected solid insulation technology. For the remaining five years, Schneider Electric brought the team together, formulated detailed R&D targets according to the established R&D direction, and began to implement each step of product development step by step.

"These research and development efforts are carried out step-by-step under Schneider Electric's rigorous R&D system. According to Ke Chen, Schneider Electric's R&D system is divided into four phases.

The first stage is to put forward some frontier concepts based on the analysis and judgment of market information by R&D personnel; when this concept is formed, the feasibility of the technology to achieve this concept needs to be verified. This is the first step in its R&D process. The second stage; when the technical feasibility is verified, it will enter the third stage of R&D. This is also the phase of product development that is well known to the outside world. This stage will specify the parameters of the product; after the new product is launched, There will also be a dedicated R&D team that will continue to work on product improvements in response to market feedback. This will enter the fourth phase of the R&D system.

It is this scientific R&D system that provides Schneider Electric with a strong backing in the market to maintain its leading edge in technology. In the future, Schneider Electric will continue to lead the development trend of the industry with the frequency of launching a new switchgear product every year.