June 24, 2015 – ABB says it recently showcased an extended full range of UniGear Digital medium-voltage (MV) air-insulated switchgear for primary substations at the CIRED conference in France.

The UniGear concept is based on the integration of current and voltage sensors into MV switchgear, combined with intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) and IEC 61850 open communication capability.

UniGear Digital has a “one size fits all” concept, which means there is no need to change primary MV components if the load changes, said ABB.

Furthermore, ABB claimed energy losses during operation are lower than with equivalent switchgear, noting instrument transformer losses are eliminated and this can save around 250MW-hours over the 30-year life of a typical substation with 14 UniGear ZS1 panels as an example. This represents a reduction of about 150 tons in CO2 emissions, equal to the emissions produced by a mid-sized European car driven for 1,250,000 km, ABB stated.

The UniGear Digital concept is now implemented across the whole single busbar portfolio of UniGear up to 24 kilovolts, and is available in UniGear ZS1 12, 17.5 and 24kV, UniGear 550, UniGear 500R and also UniGear MCC.