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NETWORK / 28 / MAY 2017 What are the current trends in energy systems and power transmission? Traditionally, the transmission and distribution industry was pri- marily concerned with reliability and the lowest initial cost, but now we are starting to observe some developments in this value system. The three major trends we are seeing are: ● a continued focus on per- formance and on safety and reliability; ● a shift from short-term invest- ment – or a capex view – to a totex view, which looks at the total cost of ownership over the full lifecycle of a product; and ● a growing emphasis on improving sustainability and lowering the carbon footprint, ultimately to zero. The industry is now looking at new technologies that benefi t society and are more readily acc- epted by the public. If you look at National Grid, for example, it has committed itself to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent by 2020, and by 80 per cent by 2050, compared with their 1990 levels. We at Siemens aim to reduce our CO 2 emissions by 50 per cent by 2020 and 100 per cent by 2030. What are some of the key consid- erations in sustainable design of power grid products? Today's power grid products are already very reliable, and this, combined with thoughtful system design, provides the basis for a highly available network. The key consideration for new sustainable products is to maintain these high reliability fi gures but at the same time lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) and simplify the processes affecting health and safety. The other major consideration is sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint – and designing a carbon-neutral product if viable. How is Siemens innovating to offer the sustainable power grid products of the future? Before we start to innovate we need to listen to our customers and understand the needs of operators using our products. To do that, we brought together our customers for a series of innovation workshops all over the world. We collated the results of these workshops, and summa- rised what our customers wanted. We took this back and looked at all the technology available to us, asking what would best suit our customers' requirements. That's how we arrived at our Siemens Blue portfolio, and that's where clean air technology comes in. What is clean air technology? Clean air technology marks the culmination of over two decades of intensive research on innova- tive switching technologies and carbon-neutral insulation. We learnt that the key to inno- vation and sustainable switchgear design was to separate switching from insulation. For switching, we took advantage of over 40 years of experience in medium-voltage vacuum technology and adapted it for high-voltage use. Vacuum switching is inherently very reli- able because of its hermetically sealed design. It's completely maintenance-free, sealed for life. Vacuum technology has a global warming potential (GWP) score of zero, meaning there are no emissions during operation, maintenance or recycling. For insulation, we analysed several hundred gases, and found that the only way to ensure CO 2 - B LU E : W H E N G R E E N J U S T I S N ' T E N O U G H Customers' views on performance, safety, total cost of ownership and the environment led Siemens to develop its Blue clean air switchgear technology, as Abhishek Sarkar, project manager for gas-insulated switchgear at Siemens, explains.