S&C Electric Company Reveals New Modern Solution for Grid-Edge Outages

New innovation brings fault-testing to the edge of the grid and mitigates unnecessary outages

CHICAGO, January 24, 2022 – S&C Electric Company, a leading grid innovator improving power reliability and delivery worldwide, announces its newest innovation, the VacuFuse® II Self-Resetting Interrupter, the latest lateral solution for grid-edge protection. The VacuFuse II interrupter brings fault-testing to the edge of the grid and mitigates nuisance outages, ensuring greater reliability for customers and fewer truck rolls for utilities.

As severe storms become more frequent and as more people work from home, outages at the edge of the grid are having a greater impact than ever before. These areas are typically protected by overhead distribution transformer fuses, which operate whether a fault is temporary or permanent. When up to 70 percent of these faults are caused by nuisance issues, such as wildlife or foliage, overhead distribution transformer fuses are causing lengthy power outages that can be avoided.

S&C’s new VacuFuse II interrupter tests whether faults are temporary and automatically restores power when they are. Because issues at the edge of the grid tend to cluster into pockets, this advanced protection device can target troublesome spots on the grid. Not only can utilities lower their maintenance costs with this new solution, but they also can keep customer satisfaction high and meet their expectation of a modern, reliable grid.

“Throughout our 110-year history, innovation has been the foundation of S&C Electric Company,” said Anders Sjoelin, president and CEO of S&C Electric Company. “We work closely with our customers to understand their challenges and develop solutions for real-world applications. As utilities are facing a major energy transformation, they are looking for ways to modernize and improve reliability and resiliency in every part of the grid. The VacuFuse® II Self-Resetting Interrupter is the latest example of how we’ve collaborated with customers to solve industry challenges and created an innovative, easy-to-use solution that tackles outages at the grid edge.”

The VacuFuse II Self-Resetting Interrupter brings a variety of benefits to utility customers:

• Improves Customer Satisfaction: Targets outage-prone areas on the grid and helps address Customers Experiencing Multiple Interruptions (CEMI)
• Lowers O&M Costs: Saves O&M costs by mitigating the 70 percent of outages caused by nuisance fuse operations above overhead distribution transformers
• Drives Reliability and Resiliency: Provides advanced protection to meet rising customer expectations and enables faster systemwide restoration during severe weather

The VacuFuse II Self-Resetting Interrupter works with overhead distribution transformers from 7.2 kV through 12.5 kV and is available in sizes compatible with 15-kV and 25-kV cutouts to accommodate most lateral systems. At only 12 pounds, the VacuFuse II interrupter is easy to install and is factory-configured prior to shipping with standard curves (i.e., K, KS, T), customizable curves, or S&C’s new transformer-specific curves.