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Power distribution for a low carbon future

Your building’s power distribution is its driving force, supporting its systems and services. At Eaton, we design power distribution infrastructure and components that will keep your building running safely and efficiently, day after day. 

Energy transition will rely on your building’s power distribution system

By ensuring your building has the right power distribution infrastructure, you can make maximum use of your property and protect its value. You can focus on meeting your customers' needs and delivering your business objectives, confident in the knowledge that people, assets and data are safe and protected.

Looking ahead, you will be ready to respond to the low carbon requirements that are becoming widely mandatory. Carefully considering your building’s power distribution systems now, will make it easier to integrate new energy technologies in the future.

We have been in the business of electrical power distribution for more than a century. We know how power works and how to ensure business continuity safely. And with our Buildings as a Grid approach, you can transform your building into an energy hub to take advantage of the new power paradigm, better manage existing electrical infrastructure and prepare for future energy requirements.

Buildings need more electrical power to support significant new loads such as electric vehicle charging and alternative heating systems. It’s a big change that needs expert management. 

And it’s not just power demand that is altering radically. Energy supply is changing, too. An increasingly flexible mix of power, based largely on renewables, means that supply is intermittent and more dependent than ever before on energy storage, particularly if energy is generated by the user at their own site from sources such as solar panels.  

The power distribution system is the foundation on which the energy transition can evolve

SF6-free medium-voltage switchgear with low-carbon footprint

Medium voltage switchgear is the first electrical connection point for many commercial buildings. Many manufacturers use SF6 gas in their medium voltage circuit breakers to manage electrical arcing, but SF6 tops the list of potent greenhouse gases and stays in the atmosphere for up to 3,200 years.  

While SF6 has been banned in most applications within the EU, it is still used as an insulator in electrical switchgear. Eaton has been producing SF6-free switchgear for more than 60 years. The switchgear Eaton shipped in 2020 alone, helped to avoid more than 9,500 kg of SF6 which is equal to  224.200 tons of CO2 – approximately the same quantity that 36 million average households would emit in a year. Our switchgear will help you to reduce the carbon footprint of your electrical installations. 

Eaton's Xiria range uses air under atmospheric pressure in a fully sealed tank instead of SF6. This makes Xiria better for the environment. It minimizes maintenance, enhances operational safety, greatly increases the number of safe switching operations, and eliminates costly end-of-life disposal procedures.

The Xiria design uses vacuum interrupters to switch, which enables a high number of switchings what is a pre in intelligent or self-healing networks.

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Low-voltage switchgear

Eaton's xEnergy Main low-voltage switchboard system allows for a broad range of fixed, removable and withdrawable configurations tailored to the requirements of commercial and industrial applications up to 7,100 A.  Eaton’s xEnergy products together provide a flexible solution, from large floor-standing incoming supply boards, to wall-mounted sub-distribution boards.

The range comprises xEnergy Main and xEnergy Light which can be combined to ensure safe, reliable power distribution throughout your building.

Advanced safety systems for low-voltage switchgear assemblies

Arc faults are a catastrophic risk that can kill or injure people and cause serious damage to buildings and equipment. An uncontrolled arc fault is essentially an explosion in switchgear assembly that will certainly mean severe and extended disruption to the building’s power supply. Avoiding arc fault must be your primary goal, with mitigation your second line of defense. We offer two products to help you guard against arc fault:

  • For predictive maintenance, the DIAGNOSE temperature monitoring system warns of potential arc fault risks so that pre-emptive action can be taken.

  • ARCON® is our patented active mitigation system. If an arc fault happens, within 2 milliseconds ARCON reacts and drastically reduces the energy in the fault to minimize risk to people and damage to property.

Low-voltage power distribution & controls systems

Low-voltage distribution boards are the foundation of your building’s electrical infrastructure, housing all necessary circuit protection and control devices.

Eaton’s comprehensive range of power distribution solutions have been developed to meet today’s challenging electrical sub-distribution applications in commercial and industrial buildings. Through proven competency in electrical distribution, Eaton delivers an innovative approach to aid compliance with the wider regulatory requirements associated with modern buildings.

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State-of-the-art digital circuit breakers (MCCB)

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Our NZM digital moulded case circuit breaker range is a class leader, offering improved protection features, Class 1 energy measurement capability, and advanced communications function. Fully compatible with the range it replaces, the digital NZM is perfectly suited to digital transformation and will be key to supporting smart energy buildings in the future. 

Reduce risk of fires in electrical installations with an arc fault detection device

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Low-level arc faults are often undetected by normal circuit protection devices. Poor connections, broken cables, or drilling through a wall, can cause an arc fault to develop and grow, and this may ignite a fire. Our AFDD+ solution comprises advanced electronics to monitor the harmonics of an electrical circuit for the characteristics of an arc fault. Coupled with integrated overload, short-circuit, and earth fault protection, AFDD+ enable to meet the latest BS7671 Amendment 2 which now makes it a requirement to protect final circuits supplying socket outlets with a rated current under 32A in specific high-risk premises.

Featured products

  • Read our customer success stories

    Our customer success stories below illustrate Eaton's expertise in deploying safe and efficient power distribution networks.