Spotlight: Power Grids

“Silicon carbide solid state equipment will replace the electro-mechanical devices like those that failed to localize the 2003 blackout in the Northeast US, the largest and most catastrophic power failure in the history of the country.”

- III-V’s Review, Boost for SiC in Power Grid Systems, August, 2005

In his state-of-the-union address in 2004, President Bush announced a call to action for modernizing America’s electric grid, explaining that America’s electric infrastructure of power lines, substations, transformer banks, and switchyards is aging and suffering from underinvestment.  The Department of Energy (DOE) subsequently released a detailed multi-year plan, GridWorks (March, 2005), for achieving this objective.

Silicon carbide power switches are a critical component of the DOE’s plan.  As the report explains, “One of the most basic power system devices is the switch.  A top priority technology need is for power electronics switches with the capability for high voltage, high frequency, and high current and power density operations, with little or no cooling requirements, and a favorable cost-to-value relationship.” 

The DOE’s plan relies heavily on the use of silicon carbide, a material ideally suited to these requirements: “Most of the effort will focus on exploring these materials for power electronics applications.”  Specifically, their timeline highlights the following milestones:

• 2007: Lab development of a silicon carbide switch
• 2012: Complete silicon carbide switch
• 2014: Aggregation of silicon carbide switches

The DOE estimates that the amount of economic activity lost by the 2003 blackout was between $4.5 and $10 billion.  Power grids worldwide are at least as vulnerable to failure as the U.S. system.  The economic incentive to replace aging power grids is enormous, leading to significant growth opportunities for silicon carbide and power device manufacturers.