Shaping a sustainable world with responsible end-of-life solutions

By Staff Report October 19, 2024 12:18 pm IST

Regular maintenance over replacement is important to achieve sustainability and circularity goals. C. R. Payannavar, Senior Vice President of ABB India Ltd., Electrification Service Division, emphasises the importance of balancing cost-effectiveness with sustainability in today’s business landscape.

In the face of modern challenges, businesses strive to find innovative methods to balance cost-effectiveness with a commitment to sustainability in response to contemporary challenges. It can be a challenge to implement sustainable practices that reduce their environmental footprint and meet regulatory standards without compromising profitability, quality, or customer satisfaction while ensuring the availability and reliability of electrical assets.

ABB Electrification Service (ABB ELSE) collaborates with various sectors to manage electrical assets safely, smartly, and sustainably. They offer comprehensive services from installation to upgrades, ensuring ethical end-of-life services for their clients.

The circular economy concept, which prioritises repair, refurbishment, and retrofit over complete equipment replacement, offers numerous business advantages over complete replacement due to its cost-effectiveness and environmental benefits. The asset management and service segments are critical. Innovation in engineering and design, advanced maintenance, and world-class service solutions have led to better asset management across their lifetime. This is a more profitable value proposition for businesses, along with efficient resource use and preservation, reduction in scrap and landfill waste, and a lower environmental footprint.

Modernisation services reduce ownership costs, improve investment returns, and offer safer, smarter solutions, thereby enhancing asset utilisation and extending their lifespan. For example, in the Oil & Gas segment, these services have helped customers achieve an approximately 55% reduction in capital expenditure (CAPEX), along with an approximately 60% decrease in downtime cost. The approach reduced greenhouse gas emissions by recovering 31.98 kg of SF6 gas, equivalent to 751 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions. 

While retrofit solutions upgrade existing systems, any old, replaced devices can become harmful waste. ABB ELSE ensures product disposal meets environmental regulations and local laws. We collaborate with customers to ensure safety and environmental benefits through responsible decommissioning, disposal, and recycling of any equipment. 

The aim is to guide customers through the lifecycle of their electrical equipment, identifying cost-effective replacement options, addressing equipment, business, and distribution network issues, and contributing to sustainability. The unique end-of-life services are designed to prioritise the reduction of GHG emissions, supporting customers’ sustainability journeys and India’s commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2070 as we work together to ensure a more sustainable world for future generations.

Exploring circularity through retrofitting and end-of-life solutions 

Viewing asset life through the lens of’replace once obsolete’ can become a narrow and limiting methodology. A critical aspect of circularity looks at how electrical equipment that has reached end-of-life is handled. Given the wide gamut of electrical equipment, the’real’ impact of replacement on the environment must be considered before exploring the replacement route, including a life-cycle assessment of all materials and their emissions. 

Organisations should prioritise regular maintenance over replacement to achieve sustainability and circularity goals. This allows for accurate assessment of repair, refurbishment, retrofitting, or recycling, extending asset life at a lower cost.

To minimize environmental impact, numerous industries are transitioning towards sustainable alternatives. These alternatives are safer. This transition has triggered a need for responsible decommissioning of older components to prevent additional harm. Expert advice and supervision are vital in this process, as different components require varied treatment and processes for storage, management, disposal, and recycling. This shift towards sustainability reflects the growing commitment of industries to reduce their carbon footprint and contribute to global climate change mitigation efforts.

Sustainable end-of-life services from ABB ELSE

The urgency to tackle this issue has grown, prompting proactive steps across industries, especially electricity-intensive sectors such as utilities, energy, metals, cement, and more. ABB ELSE helps support this transition by offering a sustainable solution. The experts facilitate the repurchase and safe disposal of old, ABB- and non-ABB-made SF6 gas circuit breakers. This solution is a pioneer in the industry, aiming to achieve net zero by reducing the environmental impact of GHG emissions.

The sustainable services include:

Retrofitting of SF6 Circuit Breaker (CB) with Vacuum Circuit Breaker (VCB) and Buy-back policy for SF6 poles / CBs

Professional and safe evacuation & handling of SF6 gas 

Subjecting the SF6 gas to a recycling process 

Responsibly recycling or disposing of other components

The journey to net zero across sectors is being supported by a comprehensive, phased approach to extend asset life and reduce GHG emissions.