Meiden America Switchgear, Inc. (“MAS”), a subsidiary of Meidensha Corporation of Japan, is pleased to announce the delivery of the world’s first environmentally friendly 145kV dead tank dry air insulated vacuum circuit breaker (145kV VCB) to Golden Valley Electric Association (“GVEA”) located in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.

The 145kV VCB’s are greenhouse-gas free and a safe, reliable addition to the GVEA’s electric system. A total of three 145kV VCBs were delivered on the project to be installed by summer 2022.

Global demand for high voltage eco-friendly vacuum circuit breakers is increasing rapidly as many utility companies are making the responsible choice by opting to replace aging and obsolete substation equipment with more reliable and environmentally sustainable equipment across their systems.

As worldwide regulations are strengthening to restrict the use of SF6 gas—used to insulate most conventional gas-insulated switchgear— many utility companies are looking to do their part to combat climate change.

With GVEA’s procurement of the world’s first 145kV dead tank dry air insulated vacuum circuit breaker allows GVEA to realize many of their core Strategic Directives in environmental, maintenance, safety, and productive initiatives, including: 

•Ability to refill insulating air without de-energizing the breaker.
•Elimination of manual switching procedures required to de-energize breakers.
•Reduction of outages to members.
•Reduction of maintenance costs.
•Operation at -50 degrees C without tank heaters.
•Reduction of risks associated with unexpected low SF6 pressure alarms.
•Reduction of GHG emissions.
•Elimination of SO2 produced during a fault.

Meiden responded to these initiatives by releasing a 72kV-class dead tank dry air insulated vacuum circuit breaker in 2004. More than 2,000 of these environmentally friendly units have been sold globally to date. MAS’ 145kV VCB delivers the same world-class quality and reliability as the 72kV-class VCB.




Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA) located in Fairbanks, AK, is an electric utility provider serving over 36,000 members, with 44,800 meters, in Interior Alaska. The Cooperative’s mission is to safely provide these members with reliable electric service, quality customer service and innovative energy solutions at fair and reasonable prices.
https://gvea.com/

Meiden America Switchgear, Inc., located in Gray Court, SC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Meidensha Corporation of Japan. MAS designs, manufactures, tests, services, and sells ecofriendly high voltage circuit breakers to the North and South American marketplace.
https://www.meidensha.com/mas/

Press contacts:

Corporate Communications & PR Promotion Division
e-mail: kouhou@mb.meidensha.co.jp