When the power goes out, modern life stops. Yet power outages are becoming increasingly frequent. One reason: as demand for electricity rises, the infrastructure that supplies it is ageing. In some industrialised countries, the transformers and switchgear that make up the power grid date back to the middle of the last century and were not designed to handle fluctuating power from renewable sources. A system upgrade based on innovative products and materials is needed.
The growing use of electric vehicles will intensify load fluctuations in the future. Smart grid technology that pools overall capacity will help meet future energy needs.
Changing standards also matter. SF6 gas, a common substance used in the past to insulate transformers and switchgear, is being phased out in favour of more environmentally friendly technologies such as nitrogen, CO2 or Green Gas for Grid (g3). These options will require new sealing solutions.