Reyrolle, Hebburn.

👏 We're proud to collaborate with Hitachi Energy in becoming one of the first companies in the world to install switchgear technology that is free of sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) - the world’s most polluting #greenhouse gas  ✅ The EconiQ 420 kV Live Tank Breaker LTA will be deployed at our Connagill Super Grid Transformer substation upgrade project in Sutherland, with installation scheduled for summer 2026. ⚡️ SF6 has been used in electrical switchgear for decades, preventing faults in medium and high-voltage electrical installations. But it is also a greenhouse gas many times more powerful than CO2 and there are global efforts to phase out its use. 🌍 The deployment of the technology is part of our wider #decarbonisation ambitions, having been the world’s first #transmission network to be accredited by the Science Based Target initiative for our carbon reduction targets which are consistent with #netzero. ➡️ Read more: https://lnkd.in/e_EcJanW

⏳ Step Back in Time! Utility Results are working with a customer in East London that requires the disconnection, decommissioning and removal of an existing UK Power Networks substation, the HV element in which has actually been redundant for a number of years. This week, engineers visited site for the first time to review what’s involved. A quick look inside the substation (with UKPN), and it’s like going back 60 years! An old (abandoned) AEI transformer from the 1960s, Reyrolle 11kV C-Gear and associated LV equipment. It’s always fascinating for members of our team to see this older equipment. The next step is for UKPN to disconnect the existing LV supply, remove the equipment and surrender the enclosure for our customer to demolish

Watch our Siemens Reyrolle 5 Protection Relay video: https://lnkd.in/efaXK2uE #siemensenergy #reyrolle #reyrolle5 #reydispmanager 🖥📄 Internetpage to Reyrolle 5: https://lnkd.in/eyHR_-Yq

Progress! I took a few colleagues for a look at a new #Siemens 8DA10 33kV switchboard under commission at one of our 132/33kV Supply Points in County Durham today. This new switchboard, funded under the Green Recovery Scheme, replaces a switchboard commissioned in 1965 comprising oil circuit breakers of the venerable #Reyrolle L42T4 and L45T4 types, with a number of later Reyrolle L800T breakers joggle-boxed onto the ends in the late 80s and early 90s. I’m often saddened to see ‘old faithful’ equipment like this decommissioned, but the 8DA10 switchboard you see here has the potential to open up new avenues for customers seeking connections to Northern Powergrid’s 33kV network, facilitating decarbonisation projects, new housing and industrial developments and much, much more. Tonight, I’ll be raising a glass to over 59 years of safe and reliable service, thanks in part to the ingenuity and craftsmanship of Reyrolle’s engineering and production staff in Hebburn, all those years ago… 🍻

Here is Fridays recovery…….A high voltage power supply and associated equipment to allow the testing of primarily cables when developed, all those years ago. This equipment was built by Britains leading X-ray company Cuthbert Andrew’s. Cuthbert Andrew himself was a true pioneer in X-ray development and he ended up as president of the British Institute of Radiology with no actual qualifications after his name! A true indication of his incredible self knowledge I would say……  Anyway, Cuthbert Andrew’s had the knowledge to produce a portable and compact high voltage generator from their experience with portable X-ray equipment. This then enabled pioneers such as Hubert Thorn Gooding to further develop the art of high voltage fault finding and location.  The equipment we have obtained is a mixture of ages with the control console being a more modern piece. The remainder of the equipment to include the H.T valves seem to have some age to them and some items have a pre war feel.  This equipment has now been saved and is a great addition to our collection representing the early days of power generation and distribution.  Two things are sure with this kit. One, it will be preserved, Two…….at no point will a power supply go anywhere near it!!!  I will post more as it gets cleaned and put back together but overall as normal, we are amazed at the build quality and general look of this equipment.  From what we can gather, it has always been called “Cuthbert”…….. I am looking forward to further researching this equipment and to see if we can get an accurate manufacturing date. 

The sheer scale of Reyrolle Class-A switchgear never ceases to impress… Class-A gear was available to order for standard service voltages of 6.6, 11 or 22 kV and breaking capacities up to 750 MVA (A3T types, at 11 or 22 kV). The earliest Class-A oil-immersed metalclad switchgear variants were introduced by Reyrolle in the 1911(!), although the design of the switchgear was reworked quite significantly in the late 1930s to accommodate the fitment of turbulators, allowing for increased breaking capacity. Development continued as the decades passed; I believe that production continued into the mid-1960s. The A6T and A7T breakers alongside me here stand at 2.7m tall, and were built on the Tyne between 1953 and 1966. They are still doing sterling service on our 20kV network - a testament to the ingenuity and commitment to quality of the engineers at Reyrolle who designed this equipment so long ago.

The sheer scale of Reyrolle Class-A switchgear never ceases to impress… Class-A gear was available to order for standard service voltages of 6.6, 11 or 22 kV and breaking capacities up to 750 MVA (A3T types, at 11 or 22 kV). The earliest Class-A oil-immersed metalclad switchgear variants were introduced by Reyrolle in the 1911(!), although the design of the switchgear was reworked quite significantly in the late 1930s to accommodate the fitment of turbulators, allowing for increased breaking capacity. Development continued as the decades passed; I believe that production continued into the mid-1960s. The A6T and A7T breakers alongside me here stand at 2.7m tall, and were built on the Tyne between 1953 and 1966. They are still doing sterling service on our 20kV network - a testament to the ingenuity and commitment to quality of the engineers at Reyrolle who designed this equipment so long ago.

Another long gone British  switchgear manufacturer ….. The Electrical Apparatus Company of London. Here is a DC generator breaker complete with distribution main switchboard. This is rated at 440 volts and was the main supply for a water abstraction pumping station located in Staffordshire. This equipment has recently been restored and given a permanent home. This kit is now 88 years old with no signs of any wear.  There is an ingenious mechanical mechanism that prevents you from slowly closing the breaker, it ensures that you achieve a certain and positive movement before allowing you to close the contacts. The opening speed to prevent arcing is achieved by a spring with the operating lever simply tripping the breaker to open.  The breaker shunts for the ammeters are very well made to include everything associated with the breakers. Due to the restoration cost,  I have had to paint all the bolts apart from the front cover, this is due to the fact that when this was built, every single external fixing was chromed!!  This manufacturer lasted from 1906 until 1968 when it was then swallowed up by Allen West.  I wonder if the lights are still being kept on somewhere in the world with this companies equipment?  Just  a few weeks ago, I found an ash tray advertising this company, the wife still does not understand why I got so excited but I’m sure some of you will… I am more than confident these will certainly last another 88 years.