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GE’s Yannick Kieffel Named Outstanding Engineer of the Year 2019 by IEEE France

GE’s Yannick Kieffel Named Outstanding Engineer of the Year 2019 by IEEE France

Paris, FRANCE — 16 October 2019 — GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions business announced today that Yannick Kieffel, a recognized GE scientist and expert in the field of gaseous and solid insulation for high-voltage products for 20 years, has been named Outstanding Engineer of the Year 2019 by France’s Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The award recognizes Yannick Kieffel's development of Green Gas for Grid, or g3 (pronounced “g cubed”), an environmentally-friendly gas alternative to sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), the world’s most potent greenhouse gas.

"On behalf of my team, I am honored to accept this IEEE award. For the last 10 years, we have been working on an environmentally-friendly alternative to SF6 for use in high-voltage equipment and are delighted the IEEE recognizes g3 as a viable gas replacement,” said Yannick Kieffel, Head of the Materials Research Department at Grid Solutions’ high-voltage switchgear research center in Villeurbanne, France. “By using g3 in high-voltage equipment, we are able to offer the same high performance and compact dimensional footprint as traditional SF6 products but with a drastically reduced impact on the environment," Kieffel added.

GE’s g3 products have more than a 99% reduced global warming potential (GWP) compared with SF6 products, which are estimated to emit more than 23,500 CO₂ equivalent in the event of a leakage. SF6 can remain in the atmosphere for up to 3,200 years.

Last month, GE announced plans to expand its range of g3 high-voltage equipment. By 2025, the company will offer g3 gas-insulated substations up to 420 kV, dead tank and live tank circuit breakers up to 550 kV, as well as instrument transformers up to 420 kV. To see GE’s planned g3 portfolio until 2025, click here. Currently, GE’s g3 products are type-tested and available for live tank circuit breakers and gas-insulated substations up to 145 kV, GIL up to 420 kV and instrument transformers up to 245 kV.

An active member of IEEE, CIGRE and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Kieffel has filed more than 30 patents mainly related to insulation for high-voltage products. Many of those patents relate to g3. He has also written numerous papers for the scientific community.