DRIVING MUTUAL BUSINESS GROWTH THROUGH PRODUCT INNOVATION & PARTNER COLLABORATION

Friday August 01, 2025

In our 30+ years of operation, NEPSI has demonstrated a steadfast pursuit of product innovation, engineering efficiencies, and overall customer satisfaction. We take pride in analyzing the energy supply chain, identifying potential pain points, and collaborating with key stakeholders within this space to make improvements... all with the goal of providing a more dependable, cost-effective, and accelerated solution for your power needs.

In 2019, we recognized a significant gap between what our customers in the Renewables space needed and what the market offered: the lack of a dedicated circuit breaker solution to meet the technical challenges of capacitive load switching.

At the voltage levels required for many of these utility-scale Solar and Wind projects (34.5 kV - 38 kV), the options available for capacitor switching were severely limited, costly, and had long lead times. As an alternative to these switches, NEPSI would offer a solution that combined conventional circuit breakers with transient inrush reactors to limit inrush current levels during back-to-back switching of renewable loads. But considering the somewhat unpredictable levels of inrush current present in these applications, this approach was also imperfect.

Realizing that neither option truly served our customers' best interests, we set out to create a better solution. In collaboration with one of our most trusted suppliers and established partners, ABB Inc., we went to work. In just 17 months, our teams designed, tested, validated, and went to market with a specialized solution: the ABB VD4-CS circuit breaker — a product engineered specifically to meet the demands of capacitive switching in renewable energy applications.

We believe that the ABB VD4-CS exceeds the performance of any other capacitor switch or capacitive rated breaker currently available in the marketplace.

1. Inrush elimination thanks to synchronous switching using single phase servomotor actuation
2. One solution for all the capacitive applications
3. Both switching and protection functions available, no need for additional protection devices for short-circuit events
4. No inrush limiting reactance or resistance required
5. Restrike elimination thanks to the dedicated poles (IEC 62271-100 C2 tested)
6. Optimized delivery time thanks to the standardized footprint
7. 20.000 CO Capacitive operations with minimal maintenance
8. Monitoring and diagnostic features to check breaker health status and performance
9. Fully integrated closed-loop controlled switching technology
10. Learn more about the benefits of the VD4-CS by clicking here or sending us an email at sales@nepsi.com.

By utilizing point-on-wave switching technology, the VD4-CS can perform transient-free capacitor switching up to 38 kV without the need for pre-insertion resistors. This means that we are able to stock the circuit breaker here at NEPSI; leading to lower costs, significantly reduced lead times, and the ability to provide immediate warranty/troubleshooting support if necessary.

Since being released to the market, NEPSI has successfully installed 100+ ABB VD4-CS breakers in various capacitor bank projects around the world.

On behalf of NEPSI, we cannot thank ABB enough for their efforts in solving our challenges. The VD4-CS has been game-changing, allowing us to drive efficiencies and optimize overall project costs, all while ensuring the best possible performance. We look forward to working closely together with ABB in the future as we continue to focus on our ambitious growth plans.

- Paul Steciuk, former Engineering Director at NEPSI