SF6 Gas Handling in Japan Focused on Emission Reduction from Gas Insulated Electrical Equipment

Abstract

In Japan, gas insulated switchgears (GIS) have been applied widely since the field test and the commercial operation of 66 and 77kV switchgears in 1968 and 1969 respectively. The application has been expanded up to 500 kV and furthermore 1000 kV class equipment. This is due to the fact that the gas insulated equipment can meet the requirements in the country that huge electric power has to be supplied in the metropolitan and industrial areas and also the severe environmental conditions in these areas. The applications of the gas-insulated equipment enable downsizing the substation and increasing the reliability and safety of the substation by applying metal enclosure construction. Also, the excellent characteristics of maintenance-free enable laborsaving in maintenance works. Therefore, gas insulated equipment such as, gas circuit breaker (GCB), gas insulated switchgear (GIS) and gas insulated transformer (GIT) have been developed and used widely in almost all classes of the electric power systems in Japan.