Siemens today announces the acquisition of Kaon Holdings Pty Ltd of Queensland, who has developed the world’s most advanced circuit breaker technology for overhead lines designed to increase productivity and enhance the reliability of our energy network.

More than 80 percent of temporary power supply interruptions and outages are caused by severe weather conditions that result in trees or other debris making contact with the overhead lines. 

The new vacuum switch, known as Fusesaver, is the world’s fastest switching technology capable of reconnecting the supply of electricity almost instantaneously.

Siemens Ltd Vice President of Low and Medium Voltage, Andrew Theodore, says that the new technology has been tested in Australian conditions and is ideally suited to cope with the world’s most challenging and remote geographic locations.

“With over 800,000 kilometres of distribution power lines in Australia  combined with the frequency of outages means that the productivity and investment savings are quite substantial,” says Mr Theodore.

“Not only does the technology avoid lengthy outages, the remote detection system can pinpoint more precisely where the fault occurred and cut-down unnecessary call-outs for the reconnection of supply.”

“We see the potential for international opportunities in other geographically large countries such as North America, who face similar electricity infrastructure challenges with remote distribution lines,” adds Andrew Theodore.

This acquisition expands the Siemens medium-voltage portfolio and marks the establishment of a centre of competence for Australian research and development specialising in future energy distribution solutions.

Kaon employees join Siemens Ltd in Australia and will continue to be based at Loganholme in Queensland.