Club program 2024
2024-04-24 Technology Award Ceremony and SF6 replcement.
The meeting began with Gunnar Flisberg presenting the 2024 recipient of VBIK's technology award, Mats Berglund, global product manager for HVDC transformers within Hitachi Energy. The diploma was handed over by VBIK's chairman Tommy Hjort.
Mats has shown technical brilliance in the development of HVDC transformers for 800 and 1100 kV. Mats is a leader who has built up a great deal of trust among customers for his technical competence.
SF6 replacement for circuit breakers and GIS
Per Holgersson, Hitachi Energy, presented replacement gases for SF6. Through its long-term Green Deal strategy, the EU aims to reduce greenhouse gases by 100% from 2050.
In high-voltage systems, SF6 has been used for more than 40 years to break electrical currents due to its good properties, but handling and disposal have always been a challenge. Hitachi Energy has therefore developed a new portfolio of products for high voltage systems called EconiQ, which replace SF6 gas in an environmentally efficient manner.
24-03-13 SR Stena on onshore wind power
SR Stena's Martin Thunarf, Operations Engineer, and Stefan Larsson, Operations Engineer, talked about the company, which is Sweden's largest owner of onshore wind power. The company projects, builds and manages efficient wind farms for long-term ownership. The company's roughly 200 wind turbines produce 2 TWh of electricity each year. Another 0.7 TWh is under construction.
In addition, they provided information about the projects currently being built, about the Saxberget Wind Park, wind power technology, and about wind power's environmental benefits and environmental impact.
24-03-06 Annual meeting
See the new board and other officials here. See also the annual report for 2023 here.
Fusion – a future inexhaustible source of energy?
The Swedish company NOVATRON's solution to this problem is based on the principle of forming a magnetic field that exposes the trapped plasma particles to an increasing repelling magnetic field as the particles move away from the center of the reactor.
The Novatron's plasma confinement principle is a breakthrough in fusion research, which until now has mainly used a plasma enclosed in a ring, a toroid called a tokamak. This principle is used, for example, in the international collaboration that is building a research reactor Iter in Cadarache in France for experimental operation in the year 2025.
Novatron's Gustaf Mårtensson presented NOVATRON's investment in fusion research with the aim of eventually building a full-sized reactor that generates electricity commercially.
24-02-14 About VBU och för European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO).
Jenny Jansson told a little about herself and more about her work at VBU and for the European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO).
With her energy, she enthuses the students to physical activity and to learn much more about space. A group of Ludvika students had direct contact with Sweden's third person in space, Marcus Wandt, at the end of January. Marcus went to the ISS space station on 18 January and the contact consisted of questions and answers via video link.
Invitation Presentation (in Swedish)
24-01-31 Will Sweden be able to generate the huge increase in electricity that industry demands?
Analyzes show that electricity use in Sweden could reach 310 TWh in 2045 - an increase of around 120% from today's 140 TWh.
Professor Harry Frank, who built the unit for FACTS within ABB and is a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, commented on the development up to today's energy situation and highlighted the challenge of more than doubling electricity generation in Sweden.