The elements in this section present the environmental benefits of tomorrow’s grids and how our solutions contribute to them.
g³ (“g cubed”) is a proven and ready-to-go alternative insulating gas mixture for high voltage electrical transmission equipment, which provides the same technical performance as SF₆ with a drastically reduced environmental impact - g³’s impact is a whopping 99% less than SF₆.
The gas mixture offers an efficient combination of low global warming potential (GWP) with high dielectric performance and minimum operating temperatures in accordance with the typical Transmission System Operators (TSO) needs.
g³ products have a significantly improved life cycle assessment (LCA) compared with SF₆ products and other alternatives.
Delivering advanced controls, asset diagnostics & situational awareness solutions
Our Digital Substations replace thousands of meters of copper wire with a relatively low number of fiber optic cables. These substations collect critical data from across the grid that provides operators with real-time, accurate and actionable information, so they know where the power is most needed and the best place to dispatch it from.
Products and Services for Power Transmission
Innovative and reliable products, digital solutions and technical expertise
Our High Voltage Direct Current and FACTS solutions help address the challenge of integrating distant and large-scale renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydro, while drastically reducing transmission losses and other grid issues.
A series of regional power grids that are interconnected with one another form a Super Grid. Together, the grids within a Super Grid have opportunities to reduce their global environmental footprint by leveraging shared efficiencies and capabilities. The environmental benefits of Super Grid solutions include:
Grid Solutions has a full range of solutions including High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) and Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS).
Grid Solutions is the main contractor for phase one of the project to connect the new Muskrat Falls hydro generation plant to the island of Newfoundland via an HVDC energy corridor. The complete project will involve energizing Atlantic Canada and the New England states in Northeastern USA.
The project enables energy trading within Canada and with the USA. The new energy corridor provides clean, renewable power – 98% sustainable energy – displacing current fossil fuel fired electricity generation used on the island. The HVDC link reduces Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions and uses 30% less land space and lowers right of way, an important decision to maintain the fragile ecosystem.
The Rio Madeira project is a strategic energy program for Brazil. By constructing a 10 GW hydroelectric plant in the Amazon basin and transporting two-thirds of the energy produced to the south-east populated areas around São Paulo, the plant contributes to the economic development of the Amazon area as well as the distributed region, and reduces Brazil’s oil dependency and GHG emissions.
Grid Solutions contributes to this project by supplying the HVDC solution for the world’s longest transmission line (2,375 km) with 3,15 GW capacity.
Key environmental benefits of this project are:
Harvesting the energy potential of wind in severe and unstable ocean conditions create challenges. At Grid Solutions we are responding to these challenges with the innovative HVDC MaxSine™, a Voltage Source Converter (VSC) solution that enables efficient DC transmission of offshore wind power to the onshore grid. We found a way to reduce the installation risk linked to offshore connections by developing floating and self-installing offshore substations to connect the wind farms to the network.
Grid Solutions offers solutions for wind farms that comply with international and customer-specific standards. We deliver turnkey substations for switching, controlling and managing transmission systems. GE has a long history, designing and constructing the first offshore substations in the UK as well as the German North and Baltic Seas.
Learn more about our Offshore Wind Solutions
The Atlantic Wind Connection is an offshore, undersea transmission line that will span the mid-Atlantic region. The transmission line will connect wind farms that are built in the federally-designated “Wind Energy Areas,” at least ten miles off the coast. When complete, this multi-phased project will support the development of up to 6,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy, which is enough to power over 2 million homes. The Atlantic Wind Connection will also facilitate a new offshore wind industry that can create tens of thousands of new jobs in America.
Using the most advanced transmission technology available today, the Atlantic Wind Connection will be able to move offshore wind electricity from where it is generated to where it is needed and where it is most valuable.
An additional example of Grid Solutions’ support for offshore wind is seen in GE’s involvement in the Galloper offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Suffolk, UK that will connect up to 336 MW of clean energy.
The DolWin project is strategic for Germany, helping it increase its renewable energy use while reducing its oil dependency and greenhouse gas emissions. DolWin3 is the third grid connection of the DolWin wind farm cluster, located in the south western region of the North Sea. This offshore grid connection project will feed up to 900 MW of wind energy to the German grid. Its completion will allow the delivery of clean energy to approximately one million German households.
Increasing reliability and lowering total cost of ownership
Customized contractual set up
Typical guaranteed outcomes
Global energy trends of electrification, decarbonization, digitization, and decentralization are changing the current energy landscape. These trends combined with customer's demand for solutions that provide increasing reliability, resiliency, sustainability, energy independence and energy cost reduction has led to the growing demand for microgrids.
GE's GridNode Microgrid Solution provides real-time control and energy optimization that enables customers to obtain the maximum return on investment (ROI) from their systems. It also includes control and automation features such as operations management, transition management, dispatch control and energy optimization, operations planning, and market participation.
GE’s LifeGRID project is supported by the European Union. LIFE is a European programme-funding initiative to protect the environment and the climate. GE Grid Solutions thus receives funding from the European Union as part of its climate action programme to contribute to the development of a 420 kV, 63 kA circuit breaker for gas-insulated substations (GIS) using g³, GE’s Green Gas for Grid, as an alternative to sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆). This validates the fact that the European LIFE programme sees in the LifeGRID project a real potential to help significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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Explore GE's environmentally friendly alternative to SF₆ gas for high-voltage switchgear, while gaining an understanding of the global warming challenges industries are facing today.
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This video provides an introduction to GE's Grid Solutions Green Services and highlights the Sealing Solution for solving GIS SF₆ gas leakage
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TenneT TSO about g³ at CIGRE 2016
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