The energy transition is driving a significant expansion of photovoltaics worldwide. Solar power systems are becoming increasingly larger and more efficient, both in residential areas and in industrial and commercial zones. They play a key role in the energy transition and make a significant contribution to the decentralized electricity supply.

However, with the rapid growth of PV technology, designers, operators and electrical contractors are facing new challenges. 

The focus is on issues such as:

•  Which type is best suited for which situation – string inverters or central inverters?
•  Are string fuse-links still actually needed?
•  2000V DC – just a rumor or already the future?
•  Which utilization categories and standards must be applied, and when?

Wind energy is one of the cornerstones of renewable electricity generation in Europe. It plays a key role in replacing fossil fuels both on land and at sea. For years, many countries have been making a specific effort to expand their wind power capacity to make their energy systems more climate-friendly and less reliant on external sources. Without wind energy, the goal of a climate-neutral electricity supply by 2050 would not be realistically achievable, as it is a key driver of decarbonization. 

For wind farms to be able to supply electricity reliably, grid protection technology plays just as important a role as the generation process itself. Each individual wind turbine is equipped with a transformer which, for example, steps up the generator voltage to the medium-voltage level.

Reliable protection for stable wind power generation

High-voltage high-performance fuse-links are essential for ensuring operational safety. They protect transformers and cable systems from short circuits. If faults occur in individual turbines, their impact is limited to that specific area, allowing the rest of the wind farm to continue generating electricity. In this way, high-voltage fuse-links not only ensure the availability and stability of wind power generation, but also play a crucial role in enabling wind energy to be integrated into the grid in an economical and reliable way.

The energy transition towards climate neutrality by 2050 presents a range of technical, economic and social challenges across Europe, and places the grids in a dual role: They need to be significantly expanded to handle the increased volume while being intelligently modernized to cope with volatility and decentralization. As well as investment in transmission grids, distribution grids must not be allowed to become bottlenecks. The rise of e-mobility and heat pumps is placing a significant strain on local distribution networks. They need to be consolidated, automated and digitized (smart grids, controllable local distribution transformers and digital control systems).

Without high- and low-voltage fuse-links capable of withstanding high loads, it would be impossible to achieve a safe, cost-effective and stable grid expansion. They are the “invisible protective layer” of the energy transition – and are decisive in ensuring that investments in grids and renewables are not jeopardized by avoidable outages.

•  High-voltage, high-rupturing capacity fuse-links provide essential protection for medium-voltage and distribution transformers. In the event of a short circuit or overload, they prevent total failure, which would cause massive delays to the expansion of the grid.
•  On the low-voltage side, the connection of many decentralized systems such as heat pumps, charging points and solar panels places more strain on local grids. Selectively graded low-voltage high-performance fuse-links ensure that, upon overload or short circuit, only the affected circuit is cut off rather than entire road sections.

As the share of renewables grows, so does volatility, making a reliable, multi-layered protection strategy all the more important – fuses form the basis for resilience and security of supply.

For wind farms to be able to supply electricity reliably, grid protection technology plays just as important a role as the generation process itself. Each individual wind turbine is equipped with a transformer that steps up the generator voltage to e.g. the medium-voltage level. Several turbines are connected via collection networks to central park transformers, which step up the voltage to high-voltage, thereby enabling power to be fed into the national grid.

The combination of high-voltage load switches and high-voltage fuse-links has proven its worth over many years as a means of short circuit protection and for isolating power transformers, and is widely used: the load switch-fuse-link combination (SSK). VDE 0671 Part 105 defines this combination in practical terms as a ‘full-range switching device’ which must be capable of interrupting overload currents and short circuit currents up to the rated breaking capacity of the fuse-links.

To complement this, specific versions of SIBA-DIN high-voltage fuse-links  have been developed, which have been optimized to work in conjunction with switchgear in terms of short switch opening times and low inrush currents: SIBA SSK fuse-links.