This month Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM) will launch a user acceptance study: New alternatives to SF6 for medium voltage (MV) gas-insulated switchgear installations have not yet penetrated the market. Thus, empirical analysis cannot draw on observed adoption behavior in the market. GEM Energy Management team is using a unique methodology to provide insights into the future market development of new products and services under various scenario assumptions.
GEM carries out a survey including stated preferences choice experiments (SPCE). SPCEs involve constructing hypothetic choice scenarios where alternatives (e.g., products, solutions) are described by a range of attributes (e.g., price, environmental impact, size). Respondents are expected to make trade-offs between these different attributes and select their most preferred alternative. This allows estimating importance weights and willingness-to-pay for multiple attributes, including SF6-free alternatives.
The survey and experiment are targeted at customers of MV switchgear in five different EU countries (France, Germany, UK, Spain and Poland). Respondents are ideally company representatives who have a leading role in the switchgear procurement process. GEM expects a minimum of 1500 survey respondents from the targeted countries.
Furthermore, the yearly emissions of SF6 and greenhouse gas impact will be derived from a detailed asset based model developed by Fraunhofer IEE. This methodology gives the possibility to investigate the impact of future trends and policy measures like grid extension and network developments or incentives and regulations to reduce the use of fluorinated gas (F-gas) in power distribution systems. Using its expertise in power system development and operation Fraunhofer IEE follows a bottom-up approach to calculate the actual installations of medium voltage (MV) switchgear in Germany, France, Spain and Poland. Thus, top-down reporting can be verified. On the basis of the calculation the overall SF6 emissions from MV switchgear in Europe will be extrapolated.
The research started in March 2019. Results will be made available for the EU regulatory action to control F-gases as part of its policy to combat climate change. The final results will be presented in a publicly available white paper.
Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology