Approximately 39% of the total primary energy (i.e. 55,000 TWh or 1.98·10¹⁴ MJ) were extracted to give 20,200 TWh of electricity (TWhe); 20,200 TWhe/55,000 TWh yields about 37%, which was marketed as 16,800 Twhe (International Energy Agency (IEA), 2010). The total yield of both primary and final energy is therefore about 30%. Industrial flow of electricity in the world according to the IEA is summarized as follows:

It means that 17% of the electricity produced is not sold; 70% of the energy is lost from the primary energy. Electricity owns a strong potential for contributing to sustainable development: the conversion of total primary energy (142,000 TWh) and total final energy (98,000 TWh) is achieved with a loss of only 31% instead of 63% (100% − 37%).

The use of electricity is increasing (∼2%/year). For example, between 2008 and 2011, global consumption increased by 8%, from 20,169 to 22,017 TWhe (energies, 2013). The share of renewable energy was 3800 TWhe (19%) in 2008, and it increased to 20% in 2011(4447.5 TWhe). This increase occurred at the expense of nuclear power and thanks mainly to a doubling of the share of wind power (energies, 2013).

In France, the historical operator of electricity (Électricité de France) supplies about 90% of the electricity consumed in France. It owns about 85% of the installed capacity. The Électricité de France owns two sister companies: Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE), which routes electricity over long distances, and Électricité Réseau Distribution France (ERDF; http://www.erdfdistribution.fr/), which distributes electricity to customers. In 2012, French consumption was 489.5 TWh for a production of 541.4 TWh (RTE, 2013).

Figure 10.1 depicts the electrical network in France. Dams and nuclear power and carbon plants generate electricity. At first it is sent through a step-up transformer, which increases the voltage level and sends the electricity to transmission lines. Electricity then is conveyed over long distances in high-voltage lines called HTB (400, 225, 90 and 63 kV) and managed by RTE. It may be then converted into the medium-voltage network called HTA (from 1 to 50 kV, usually 20 kV) to be routed by the distribution network, which is managed at 94% by ERDF. Transformation from HTB to HTA takes place in 2240 transmission substations, which contain transformers that lower the voltage of electricity before it is distributed. The electricity then feeds directly to 107,900 industrial customers (HTA) or 35 million other customers. In the latter case, the electricity is converted to low voltage (BT) in 750,400 HTA/BT distribution substations before being delivered. In the end, the quality of the supplied electricity is the result of the quality of the whole course:

In 2012, losses – calculated as the difference between the French electricity produced and the electricity marketed – were only about 10%. The losses from the French network are from both the RTE and ERDF networks. About one-third of electrical loss on the HTA and BT networks comes from nontechnical problems such as fraud and disputes, which comprise 2.5% and 3.5%, respectively, of the total amount of electricity injected (Les dispositifs, 2014). The 6% of the network that is not managed by the ERDF undergoes a loss of about 1 TWh (Les dispositifs, 2014). Assuming 0.0575 €/kWh, this gives ∼€3 billion in losses per year. The networks themselves are the most important consumer of electricity in France.

Because of the liberalization of the European electricity market, the development of renewable energy, investments in maintaining the nuclear power stations, carbon dioxide quotas and other European regulations for companies in the manufacturing industry, the average price per megawatt hour increased by 70% in a single year: from €39.6 in 2010 to €57.5 in 2011 (DGCIS, 2013). Furthermore, in deregulating the electricity market, the European commission has created stock exchanges, auction markets and securitization through call options. The buyer of the call option buys a right (the fee paid is called a premium) to buy an agreed quantity of electricity at a certain time (the expiration date) for a certain price (the strike price). Such marketing has made the management of the electrical network drastically complex.

Beyond these international organizations, the European community, through its commission, is presently a pioneer in the promotion of ecodesign and cleaner production. European legislation in the environmental field represents a reference for worldwide legislation.

The Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals regulation (REACh) (http://europa.eu/index_fr.htm (January 2010)) establishes a single integrated system of registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals marketed in the European Union (Figure 10.3). REACh requires a registration process and environmental and toxicological evaluation (1907/2006/EC) from all producers and/or importers of substances or preparations put on the European market. In addition, it sets up the principle of traceability of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) when used in articles. A substance may be listed as an SVHC if it meets one or more of the following criteria: carcinogenic; mutagenic; repro-toxic; persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic for the environment or very persistent, very bioaccumulative. All European companies (manufacturers, importers, distributors and/or downstream users) may be concerned by REACh. Manufacturers or importers of articles containing more than 0.1% (by weight) of any SVHC must, upon request, provide their customers and consumers with adequate information on the safe use and disposal of the article, including the name of the SVHC(s) concerned (Hassanzadeh, Theoleyre, & Metz, 2011).

To support sustainable design, the European Community environmental legislation continuously develops new legislation relating to the energy efficiency of industrial products. Several main European directives are of interest to low-voltage electrical and electronic equipment and soon should affect electricity distribution network equipment. The energy efficiency of products is enshrined in a broader integrated approach.

These directives aim to ensure the free movement of electrical and electronic (new or end use) equipment within the European market through the creation of a framework for the integration of environmental aspects of design and development and for setting ecodesign requirements for this equipment.

This program is being piloted by a nonprofit association named the P.E.P. Association (eponymous). This association aims to develop internationally the environmental declaration program PEP ecopassport concerning electrical, electronic and heating, ventilation and air conditioning products. This procedural framework allows any company to prepare, check and publish an ecodeclaration type III named PEP in compliance with the ISO 14,025 requirements. PEP is established on a voluntary basis and under the responsibility of the manufacturer who publishes it (http://www.pep-ecopassport.org/docs/pep-instructions_generales-ed_3-en-2011_11_08_official.pdf (July 2012)). The ambition of the program is to provide a robust method for characterizing quantitatively the environmental impacts of a given product based on a multi-criteria life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) (http://www.pep-ecopassport.org/ (July 2012)). Environmental impact assessments should be in tabular form, including at least all mandatory indicators (Figure 10.4). The name and version of the LCIA software and the scenarios used for the different phases of the life cycle also are included in this part (http://www.pep-ecopassport.org/docs/PEPPCRed2FR20111209.pdf (July 2012)). The LCA has to be performed according the ISO standard 14,044 (ISO, 2006). The functional unit (FU) is the quantity that quantifies the function of the product on the basis of which the analyses are compared. Its role is to provide a benchmark against which all elementary flows are reported. The FU should be clearly explained. It must include a unit quantifying the function studied, the level of performance achieved by the product and its lifetime (http://www.pep-ecopassport.org/docs/PEPPCRed2FR20111209.pdf (July 2012)). It should be noted that the FU must include the product's packaging (http://www.pep-ecopassport.org/docs/PEPPCRed2FR20111209.pdf (July 2012)).

PEP provides recyclability rates calculated according to the recent IEC 62,635 publication. Beyond this LCIA, it is striving to create a common framework to compare consensually and robustly the environmental performance of a product through product category rules (PCRs) (http://www.pep-ecopassport.org/docs/PEPPCRed2FR20111209.pdf (July 2012)). This document gives the generic rules applicable to all electrical and electronic product categories (electrical, electronic and HVAC and refrigeration)as well as specific rules depending of the category of the product. All documents related to the PEP ecopassport program are available at www.pep-ecopassport.org.

Medium-voltage switchgears concern the power networks supplied either in alternating current at voltages greater than 1 kV (or 1.5 kV direct current) and up to 52 kV (alternating current). (It is worth noting that according to the IEC, HTAs deal with nominal voltage (V_r) in the range of 1 kV < V_r ≤ 35 kV and HTBs (35 kV < V_r ≤ 230 kV) and extra-high- and ultra-high-voltage networks (>230 kV)). It provides the automatic protection of these systems against all incidents liable to disturb their operation, and it also performs on command the operations for modifying the system configuration in normal duty conditions. This switchgear differs from the low-voltage switchgear in the levels of voltage applied, the technical constraints it must meet, and its lifetime (longer than 20 years). Indeed, it has to withstand dielectric stresses, ensure the passage of current without excessive heating and without degradation of the contacts, be capable of functioning in severe atmospheric conditions (humid, marine and industrial pollution atmospheres), withstand major earthquakes and, above all, for the circuit breakers, be capable of interrupting all currents less than or equal to its interrupting capacity. Moreover, it must not require any maintenance throughout its lifetime.

Different systems are used to ensure the dielectric insulation of the medium-voltage switchgear: vacuum, air, liquid (vegetal and synthetic oils), gases (mainly sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆)) and solid insulation made of epoxy or sheet moulding compound or bulk moulding compound; elastomers such as ethylene propylene diene monomer; or polysiloxanes (–Si–CH₃) or thermoplastics such as polyhexamethylene adipamide ([NH−(CH₂)₆−NH–CO−(CH₂)₄−CO]_n), polyphthalamide (–[–NH–R–NH–CO–C₆H₄–CO–]–), polycarbonate (–[–O–CO–O–R–]_n–) or hybrids. The use of a fluorinated gas is justified by its very good dielectric strength, which makes the products more compact. However, the specific global warming potential of SF₆ is approximately 23,000 times that of carbon dioxide. Its recovery at end of life is mandatory and follows a rigorous procedure. However, there is legislation that still does not apply to medium-voltage equipment.

There is today a consensus among proactive companies to consider five periods in the environmental life cycle: manufacturing, distribution, installation, use and end of life. Joule losses and the corona effect always lead to the use phase being the period with the most impact. Such physical phenomena are, however, difficult to reduce and will need scientific and technical breakthroughs to do so.

The end of life also has driven much of the attention in research because the end-of-life period is easier to affect than decreasing the efficiency (mainly electrical consumption) consumption of the equipment. A product reaches the end of its lifetime in a variety of cases.

In all these cases, the product is no longer fitted to fulfil its original functions. The choice of moving towards a recycling or reuse system after overhaul will depend on the condition of the apparatus, its value and the cost of maintenance. In general, overhauling the product is worthwhile for equipment that is slightly degraded or that has not undergone major electric shocks. The difficulty is assessing these products to find out the possibilities of upgrading. This is easier with apparatuses whose history is known or for which the worn parts are clearly identified. The rest of the apparatus is directed towards recycling systems.

In some cases, recovering the insulating oils and gases before transportation will be required. It is important to note that the manipulation of SF₆ gas requires specific authorization (EC 842/2006 regulation of 17 May 2006 on specific fluorinated greenhouse gases). Each product containing insulating oil or gas is marked by a label indicating the quantity of insulator and the position of the recovery point.

Each de-installed product must be accompanied by a tracking sheet, which includes the reference of the device, its history and the operations performed. Specific events such as fires, technical failures or natural catastrophes must be included. This sheet follows the product until its regeneration.

Before any dismantling operation, it is important to check the existence of a liquid or gas insulator. In this case, the recovery of these products is paramount.

This operation requires approval and dedicated installations, especially for SF₆. Depending on the type of device, there exists an appropriate drainage procedure. Before the recovery of SF₆ or the insulating oil, checking their chemical condition is advised. At all events, the devices that have sustained an electric arc or are heavily damaged will be drained into dedicated containers because the insulating products may be contaminated and harmful.

Dismantling may be carried out manually, semi-manually or automatically. It is possible to combine these three systems to optimize the operation for segregating components and materials. The objective is to recover the materials for recycling purposes. The choice of the type of dismantling depends on the design of the device, its composition and its cost. Manual dismantling is often more costly than automatic dismantling but presents the advantage of preserving the quality of the recovered materials (Huet, Aeschbach, Tschannen, Pohlink, & Bessede, 2004). A dismantling guide is often offered for medium-voltage products. This manual aims at dispatching devices to WEEE. The manual mode is used to separate the components joined by easy-to-detach fastenings such as screwing, positioning and torquing. The semi-manual mode (use of mechanical tools) is used to separate riveted, fitted and enclosed components. The automatic mode is used to detach cast, glued, welded or brazed assemblies. The choice of dismantling mode is linked to various parameters in addition to the fastening mode – the recycling compatibility of the assembled materials. When the materials are compatible, they do not need to be separated. This is the case for certain metals such as low-carbon steel for stamping and high–elastic-limit steel cold forming or certain thermoplastics such as polycarbonate and terephthalate polybutadiene.

If the quantity of recovered materials is very small, the priority will be given to crushing. It is possible to determine a reference price of recovered kilograms per minute per country. For example, in France, a kilogram of steel should be recovered in less than 1 min and a kilogram of copper in less than 3 min (Schneider Electrical, 2007).

When the quality of the recovered materials is very large, as for some metals (silver, stainless steel, steel, cooper and aluminium), it is preferable to proceed by manual dismantling. In some countries, manual dismantling costs are less than crushing. For example, the average cost of crushing for the whole range of materials in France is €100–150/ton, whereas the hourly labour cost in China is €15.

Concerning the end-of-use phase, the objective may be to optimize the reuse of the recovered materials. In order of priority, recycling is the first way, followed by the reuse of the material (as a load or for a secondary use), then energy extraction. Transfer to a burial facility is reserved for the very end of life or wastes that are difficult to reuse. To date, the recycle rate of European-made switchgears is greater than 70%. Table 10.1 presents the proposed end uses for the materials. The values presented in this table are mean values.

Extending the lifetime of medium-voltage switchgears beyond the initial lifetime is possible in some cases. In general, the wear of a product arises both from the functioning and from the degradation of some components. In this type of approach, it is important to think of the overhaul cost and the failure risk. To do this, the lifetime can be extended for equipment items whose price is greater than the cost of maintenance at end of life. Some medium-voltage cubicles may be suited to this kind of approach. The recovered device has to undergo expert assessment to determine the scope for return to operation. This assessment is based on a set of tests that may differ from one device to another. As an illustration, the following tests should be administered for a circuit breaker:

Other tests may be required to check the working condition of the device. An overhaul could then enable a return to operation, usually with a limited lifetime. This path has not yet been thoroughly explored, given the guarantee to be offered for the reinstated devices. This is because any failures present high risks to the safety of the power networks.

The end-of-life management of medium-voltage electrical products is an area currently under development. To date, there exist no structures dedicated to this type of product. This is because these products have a long lifetime, and the existing quantities do not justify such a mobilization. However, the electrical equipment pool worldwide is extensive, and old equipment such as switchgears will reach their end of life in the near future. It is therefore important to prepare carefully and organize suitable systems for de-installation, collection, dismantling and recycling. For this reason, a dismantling guide should be compulsory for any medium-voltage equipment. A long period of work will remain to be accomplished afterwards to assist the customers and service suppliers in this end-of-life management approach. Beyond the scope of the end-of-life phase, customers may benefit from data that can also be used as a comparison guide for high- and medium-voltage equipment.

With the increase of the scope of the PEP program, more categories will be added in the near future. New product-specific rules (PSRs) will be published in the near future with more details: standard reference, functional units, extrapolation rules, maintenance in use phase, and so on. According to the PSRs of equipment, the lifetime of the passive products and enclosures category during the use phase has been agreed on as 20 years, although for active products it is only 10 years. For nonpermanent passive products to simulate wattage losses during the use phase, only 30% of nominal current is taken into account and during only 30% of the lifetime of the product category, that is, 6 years and not 20 years. This is unlike permanent passive products, for which wattage losses are simulated at 100% of the lifetime but with 30% of nominal current.

Regarding the product studied, in addition to basic information (name and visual product), it is necessary to indicate the category to which the product belongs (indicated in the PSR) and the FU. In addition to LCA results, PEP provides information on product content and end-of-life aspects. The declaration of materials and substances in the PEP also follows specific rules. It is necessary to indicate in the document the total mass flow reference (of the product as well as the packaging and the products requested for installation). Plastics and metals, among others, are materials to be mentioned (expressed in percentage of weight of the total mass of the flow of reference). These can be broken down by group of substances or materials.

Regarding the use phase, scenarios are described in the PSRs document. PSRs are additional rules specific to each of the categories of products, and they are part of the PCR (http://www.pep-ecopassport.org/docs/PEPPCRed2FR20111209.pdf (July 2012)) (Figure 10.4). For example, medium-voltage circuit breakers belong to the category Passive products. For this category the use scenario considered a useful life of 20 years and a load rate of 30% of rated current.

Concerning the calculation of environmental impact, the indicators used in the PEP ecopassport include a common set of mandatory indicators and optional indicators. Figure 10.5 describes the impact indicators taken into account. In the future, these indicators will be completed by additional impact indicators that take into consideration during market evolution. In particular, building impact indicators that are already standardized will be added to actual indicators to be more and more exhaustive.

Let us develop the example of a medium-voltage circuit breaker. In the field of medium-voltage vacuum circuit breakers there are at least three families of products:

Today, PEP ecopassport PCRs provide general rules on the PEP ecopassport. That is why we recommend giving more details in the PSR to be more accurate for a given product. For example, we recommend creating three different PSRs for each family of the above-mentioned switchgears (Figure 10.6).

Figure 10.7 depicts seven key elements for the declaration of environmental profile conforming to the PEP ecopassport:

To follow these main key rules, even more specific PSRs will be created in the near future.

Beyond the scope of electricity network distribution equipment, the network distribution itself will experience major changes in the coming years. Indeed, total energy consumption is expected to double by 2050 (IEA, 2012) and electricity consumption by 2030 (IEA, 2012), greenhouse gas emission must be halved in the same time period (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2012) and generation, transmission and consumption will need to become four times more efficient. Energy efficiency and renewability are the main routes to decreasing the worldwide emission of carbon dioxide (57% reduction of global carbon dioxide emissions will come from energy efficiency by 2030 (IEA, 2009)).

Renewable energies are essential today but still are difficult to integrate into energy mix. For instance, the intermittency difficulties associated with large-scale wind power, a mature technology, may be overcome but always at considerable cost and time. The conventional electric network designed around the world, that is to say, simple and linear, with centralized power generation and passive consumption, will gradually transform into a more sophisticated model, one that is interconnected and interactive: a smart grid, a fundamental re-engineering of the way electricity is used (Figure 10.8). The smart grid relies on new technology of information, with three main goals:

Implementing integrated solutions for energy management in all industrial, commercial and residential buildings, which account for nearly three-quarters of global energy consumption, may save up to 30% of the final consumption. Intelligent energy management, that is, management of the network in real time, which also allows the consumer to anticipate and adapt supply, is the obvious quickest, easiest and most sustainable solution.

Concerning the electricity distribution network, losses are an inevitable consequence of the transfer of energy across networks. Current leakages increase over time because of the ageing of the equipment. On average, around 7% of electricity transported across French distribution systems is reported as electrical losses (Les dispositifs, 2014). Such reported losses are influenced by a number of factors, both technical and operational. Main technical losses occur from cables. Electrical conductivity is strongly related to impurities, and the use of primary metal casting is required. However, according to the US Geological Survey (2013), the reserves from the primary production of copper and aluminium will last 31 and 167 years, respectively (as of 2006). Also, the substitution of copper by aluminium is likely to increase in the coming years.

By monitoring the network, not only failures but also current leakages may be solved and possible damage anticipated. Intelligent distribution will facilitate the creation of a more responsive and more stable power supply.