California Code of Regulations
Title 17 - Public Health
Division 3 - Air Resources
Chapter 1 - Air Resources Board
Subchapter 10 - Climate Change
Article 4 - Regulations to Achieve Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions
Subarticle 3.1 - Regulation for Reducing Sulfur Hexafluoride Emissions from Gas Insulated Switchgear
Section 95351 - Definitions and Acronyms

(a) For the purposes of this subarticle, the following definitions apply:

"Active Gas-Insulated Equipment" or "Active GIE" means GIE that is non-hermetically sealed and is connected through busbars or cables to an electrical power system or that is fully-charged, ready for service, and being prepared for connection to the electrical power system. This does not include spare GIE.

"Acquire" means to take possession and/or ownership of an item or to obtain an item through lease. Equipment under temporary ownership by the manufacturer during transport and equipment transported through California that will never be used in California are not considered to have been "acquired."

"ARB Identification Number" or "ARB ID" means the unique identification number assigned to each GIE owner that reports GHG emissions to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) through the California Electronic Greenhouse Gas Reporting Tool (Cal e-GGRT).

"Blank-off Pressure" is the lowest achievable pressure of a GIE device or gas cart, as recommended by the manufacturer.

"Carbon Dioxide Equivalent" or "CO2e" means the amount of CO2 emissions equivalent to the emissions of a given quantity of another GHG when calculated using the individual global warming potentials as specified in the "global warming potential" definition of this subarticle.

"Circuit Breaker" means a device designed to automatically interrupt high currents in order to protect electrical equipment from damage.

"Covered Gas Container" means a gas container containing or designed to contain covered insulating gas.

"Covered Insulating Gas" means an insulating gas with a global warming potential (GWP) greater than one. When the amount of covered insulating gas must be calculated for gas blends, it must be calculated pursuant to section 95354(m).

"Covered Insulating Gas at Activation" means the value calculated in section 95354(a)(10)(A)6.. If this value is not calculated, this term means the nameplate capacity of the GIE device.

"Data Year" means the calendar year for which a GIE owner must submit an annual GHG emissions data report.

"Day" means one calendar day.

"Designated Representative" means the person responsible for certifying, signing, and submitting the GHG emissions data report.

"Electrical Power System" means the combination of electrical generators (i.e., power plants), transmission and distribution lines, equipment, circuits, and transformers used to generate and transport electricity from the generator to consumption areas or to adjacent electrical power systems.

"Emergency Event" means a situation arising from a sudden and unforeseen event including, but not limited to, an earthquake, flood, or fire.

"Executive Officer" means the Executive Officer of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) or her or his designee.

"Failure" means the sudden and unexpected, or imminent, failure of a GIE device that requires replacement of the device.

"Flow meter" means a measurement device consisting of one or more individual components that is designed to measure the bulk fluid movement of liquid or gas through a piped system at a designated point. Bulk fluid movement can be measured with a variety of devices in units of mass flow or volume.

"Gas Cart" means any device designed to transfer insulating gas into or out of GIE, with the gas coming from or going into a permanent or removable gas container or the gas cart itself. A gas cart may utilize gas containers, but gas containers do not fall within the definition of gas cart.

"Gas Container" means a single vessel containing or designed to contain a gas used as an insulating gas in GIE. This includes pressurized cylinders, any container that can be removed from a gas cart, or other containers, but does not include GIE or the gas cart itself.

"Gas-Insulated Equipment" or "GIE" means all electrical power equipment, regardless of location and insulating medium (e.g., solid dielectric, vacuum, SF6, alternative gas), that provide insulating and/or interrupting (arc quenching) functions related to operation of electrical power systems. GIE include, but are not limited to, switchgear, switches, circuit switchers, coupling capacitor potential devices, gas-insulated substations, and circuit breakers. This definition includes hermetically sealed GIE and non-hermetically sealed GIE.

"Gas-Insulated Equipment Characteristics" or "GIE Characteristics" means, for GIE whose voltage capacity is 38 kV or less, the combination of attributes listed in Table 1 (configuration, voltage capacity (kV), and short-circuit current rating (kA)) of section 95352. For GIE whose voltage capacity is greater than 38 kV, this means the combination of attributes listed in Table 2 (voltage capacity (kV) and short-circuit current rating (kA)) of section 95352.

"Gas-Insulated Equipment Owner" or "GIE Owner" means the person who owns GIE that use covered insulating gas. "GIE owner" excludes temporary ownership by the equipment manufacturer during GIE transport for purposes of installation at a customer's site or repair. A GIE owner may be a limited liability company, subsidiary, parent company, or other entity that is an owner of the GIE that use covered insulating gas.

"Global Warming Potential" or "GWP" means the ratio of the time-integrated radiative forcing from the instantaneous release of one unit of a trace substance relative to that of one unit of a reference gas, in this case, carbon dioxide. The GWP values for this subarticle are as specified in Table A-1 of Subpart A of Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 98 as published in the Federal Register on December 11, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference. The GWP of Novec-4710 shall be the default GWP for "other fluorinated GHGs" (2,000) as listed in Table A-1 of Subpart A of Title 40 CFR Part 98 as published to the Federal Register on December 11, 2014. Reporting of Novec 5110 is not required because the default GWP in Table A-1 (Subpart A of Title 40 CFR Part 98 as published to the Federal Register on December 11, 2014) for a compound of its type is 1.

"Greenhouse Gas" or "GHG" means CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, SF6, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and other fluorinated GHGs or GHG groups included in Table A-1 of Subpart A of Title 40 CFR Part 98 as published in the Federal Register on December 11, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

"Hermetically Sealed Gas-Insulated Equipment" or "Hermetically Sealed GIE" means GIE that are pre-charged with covered insulating gas, sealed at the factory, and designed by the manufacturer to not be fill-able by the GIE owner or a third-party designee.

"Insulating Gas" means the gas used in GIE to provide dielectric insulation and/or to interrupt electrical currents.

"Nameplate Capacity" means the design capacity of the insulating gas specified by the manufacturer for optimal performance of a GIE device. Nameplate capacity may be found on the nameplate attached to the GIE device, may be stated within the manufacturer's official product specifications, or may be the value calculated by the GIE owner pursuant to section 95357.2, if applicable.

"NIST-Traceable Standards" means national, traceable measurement standards developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

"Non-Hermetically Sealed Gas-Insulated Equipment" or "Non-Hermetically Sealed GIE" means GIE that contain a covered insulating gas and are designed by the manufacturer to be fillable by the GIE owner or a third-party designee.

"Person" shall have the same meaning as defined in Health and Safety Code section 39047.

"Purchase" means executing an agreement between the buyer and the seller to acquire a product such that any reversal on behalf of the buyer or the seller could result in a breach of the agreement and/or trigger cancellation or termination charges.

"Replacement Parts" are interchangeable components used to repair a GIE device.

"Spare GIE" are GIE that have been acquired by the GIE owner and are intended for use by the GIE owner, but are not being used as active GIE or being prepared for connection to the electrical power system (e.g., they are in storage).

"Sulfur Hexafluoride Gas-Insulated Equipment" or "SF6 Gas-Insulated Equipment" or "SF6 GIE" means GIE configured to use SF6 as the insulating gas.

"Tare weight" means the weight of an empty gas container that when subtracted from the gross weight yields the amount of gas in the gas container.

"Voltage Capacity" means the maximum voltage within which the manufacturer specifies that a GIE device should operate. This value is often reflected on the GIE nameplate as "Rated Voltage."

(b) For the purposes of this subarticle, the following acronyms apply:

"ARB" or "CARB" means the California Air Resources Board.

"CFR" means the Code of Federal Regulations.

"CO2" means carbon dioxide.

"CO2e" means carbon dioxide equivalent.

"GHG" means greenhouse gas.

"GIE" means gas-insulated equipment.

"GWP" means global warming potential.

"kA" means kiloamperes.

"kV" means kilovolts.

"MT" means metric tons.

"MTCO2e" means metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.

"NIST" means National Institute of Standards and Technology.

"SF6" means sulfur hexafluoride.