Race to replace SF6 in switchgear ahead of EU ban

Lucy Electric is to unveil a “UK first” SF6-free switchgear product ahead of an European Union (EU) ban on the powerful greenhouse gas in new installations beginning in 2026.

SF6 has been widely used to insulate electrical switchgear since the 1960s, despite being 23,500 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Electricity networks in the UK have been searching for alternatives for the past few years, including UK Power Networks’ trial with Siemens , National Grid working with Hitachi Energy on the London Power Tunnels project and SSEN’s use of GE’s g3 gas.

Now Lucy Electric has created a ring main unit which uses a nitrogen and oxygen blend to replace SF6. The company claims it is the first product approved for use in package substations in the UK. It says the EcoTec fits within the same substation housing space as current switchgear, unlike other solutions being trialled where the equipment needs to be installed in an indoor enclosure and cable-connect to the transformer.

As well as selling the product to networks, the company plans to market it to private customers for use in electric vehicle chargepoints.

The official launch of the EcoTec on Tuesday (26 March) comes ahead of the EU’s phased ban on SF6 in new installations beginning in 2026 for medium and lower voltage. Although the UK is not obliged to follow this ruling, the industry is heavily reliant on European manufacturers who are unlikely to continue bespoke solutions for one market.

The extent to which the UK should mirror the EU’s approach has been an increasing source of debate, with some network operators arguing that it could threaten the UK’s net-zero ambitions. For example, SSEN has said it is progressing with synthetic alternatives to SF6 because the development timescales for natural origin alternatives, which have zero global warming potential, are too long. However, these kind of solutions could also be caught within the EU’s extension of the ban to also cover fluoronitriles, which commonly feature in these synthetic alternatives.

Martin Sweeney, global head of product management at Lucy Electric, said: “Alongside our customers, Lucy Electric is focused on meeting net zero commitments, and EcoTec is specifically designed to reduce the emissions of UK network operators in an efficient and cost-effective way. We have listened extensively to customer feedback to optimise the design of our switchgear such as embedding the control unit and the smart solutions, including remote control available as standard.”