SF6 regularly escapes into the atmosphere a) when it leaks out of equipment; b) during maintenance when SF6 needs to be taken out of the equipment (the equipment is recharged with SF6 following maintenance); and c) when it is off-gassed during old equipment disposal. While recycling and leak detection technology is available for electrical power grid use, SF6 is still commonly off-gassed in Nigeria, forcing the transmission company to buy SF6 to recharge equipment after leakages. This project will help the Nigerian Electric Power Authority (TCN) that owns and operates the transmission system to identify and repair SF6 leaks and develop SF6 recycling capacity. The project will transfer technology and knowledge and help Nigerian implement best practices in SF6 management. The basic approaches for SF6 recovery in this project are the following:

Recycle: When old transmission equipment is replaced or repairs are made on existing equipment, very often SF6 is just released into the atmosphere. Since the gas is nontoxic and relatively cheap, many utilities around the world simply do not find it economically beneficial enough to recapture the gas for reuse. Each piece of equipment using SF6 contains a manufacturer’s specification including the exact amount of SF6 used in each piece of equipment. The project will introduce SF6 recycling equipment to reduce emissions and monitoring equipment to verify exactly how much SF6 emissions are being reduced.

Eliminate Leaks: Small and occasionally large SF6 leaks from electrical transmission equipment are relatively common occurrences. Over time as equipment loses SF6 it becomes more prone to failure, at times leading to system-wide power interruptions (when a circuit breaker loses too much SF6, an alarm goes off and a technician pumps more SF6 into the breaker). New technologies have become available that allow SF6 leaks to be quickly detected, accurately quantified and fixed before equipment fails. In Nigeria the utilities currently lack the expertice to detect many of the leakages, and even when detected they lack the incentives and the technical capacity to reduce leakages. As a consequence equipment is simply recharged with SF6 knowing that it will continue to leak out. This project will provide the equipment and the motivation to systematically control and avoid such leakages.

Contribution to Sustainable Development: The project will transfer technology and knowledge and help Nigerian implement best practices in SF6 management. The sale of emission reductions will provide additional revenue that can in turn be used to upgrade the Nigerian power system. Currently, Nigeria faces blackouts and other supply constraints, in part because there is not enough money to help maintain and improve the country’s transmission and distribution system. This project will help provide additional funding for such upgrades, helping to provide more reliable electricity to Nigeria’s people and thereby contribute to sustainable development.