Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) provides generation, transmission and distribution of electricity to 34.7 million metered customers of Mexico's population of almost 113 million people, making it one the largest utilities in North America.

As part of recent aggressive plans to provide more reliable electric power to its customers, CFE focused its efforts on upgrading the aging electric infrastructure of its largest city and capital, Mexico City.

To accomplish this, the utility did a thorough investigation of the latest technology available for distribution automation. Its automation requirements included automatic transfer and a future Fault Detection, Isolation and Restoration (FDIR) scheme.

CFE's research for automated switchgear resulted in the selection of G&W Electric's Trident line of solid dielectric switches. Solid dielectric insulation is the industry's latest alternative to air, oil and SF6 gas and offers many installation and operational benefits for automation projects. G&W was able to meet all of the utility's switch requirements, including installation into existing confined vault locations, remote operation, multi-way configurations, occasional flooding of the vaults and proven automation component compatibility.

To learn more, visit www.cfe.gob.mx or www.gwelec.com.