Substation and Switchgear Services
Substation and Switchgear
Our comprehensive testing, maintenance, and repair services cover all of the equipment in your substation and switchgear. Our commitment to servicing this
equipment is supported by our investment in the most talented associates, training, state-of-the-art test equipment and especially our ongoing focus on safety. Our maintenance and testing procedures include physical inspections, maintenance, and testing as recommended by IEEE, NETA, ANSI and the original manufacturer's recommendations. All of our procedures meet or exceed the requirements of NFPA 70B.
While major focuses of our services are dedicated to planned outages, we really excel working with you in your time of crisis. Whether you need a single technician to help isolate a problem or a team of technicians to work around the clock to assess and repair damage from a massive fault, we have the resources to help you in an emergency. When you call, you will speak with a dedicated and experienced on-call associate who will act as your resource coordinator from the initial phone call through to re-energizing your system. This associate will dispatch the best technicians equipped with the right tools to your facility - 24x7x365. With the latest in infrared and advanced disturbance analysis equipment, our experts can pinpoint the problem and speed your power system recovery!
Project Preparation
In keeping with our culture of safety, all of our power services are conducted with the utmost care to ensure a safe and successful project. We begin working on your project well in advance of your actual outage. We start with a detailed review of your one-line diagram and then proceed with a site walk-through to ensure we are familiar with the challenges associated with the project so that the work will be completed on schedule.
When our team arrives at your site, we will work closely with your representatives to ensure that we comply with your safety policies, as well as our own. Each project includes project update meetings, LOTO planning, Job Hazard Analysis, Tool Box Meetings, execution of the LOTO plan, application of safety grounds, and verification that the system is at a zero energy state by at least two of our electrically qualified technicians. When the zero energy state is verified, the scope of work may be started.
Medium and High Voltage Substation
We will offer a complete team of trained technicians to tackle all of the switchgear in your medium and high voltage substation. We are able to service your switches, transformers, main circuit breakers, tie
circuit breakers, feeder circuit breakers, protective relays, bus, contactors, battery systems, cable systems, and kirk key installations. At your facility, we can perform cleaning, maintenance, testing, repair, installation, and troubleshooting of these devices.
Most important to your protection scheme, we have experts in all of the medium voltage switchgear and high voltage circuit breakers (including SF6 and OCB) that are found in your substation. These circuit breakers will be tested and serviced to ensure that they will respond appropriately to fault conditions and further that they close correctly when required. We are also intimately familiar with the wide number of manufacturers including GE, Westinghouse, ABB, Allis Chalmers, Siemens, Toshiba, and many others. Our service capabilities include verifying the mechanical integrity of the breaker, electrical testing, time-travel analysis, cleaning, de-tanking (OCB), acceptance testing, repair, and replacement.
In addition to circuit breaker services, the protective relays that control the trip functions of these circuit breakers will be inspected and tested to ensure the unit functions correctly and that the settings meet your parameters. With more than six different advanced relay test systems, we will be able to test and maintain your most complicated protective relays. Our on-site testing includes all tests as recommended by the original equipment manufacturer. Click here for more details regarding protective relays.
The high and medium voltage transformers in your substation require regular inspection, testing, and maintenance. Our service offering for these units includes inspection cleaning, maintenance, a wide range of electrical tests, and oil analysis. The accessories of the transformer including the load tap changers (LTC), lighting arrestors, sudden pressure relays, and bushings will be cleaned and tested. For additional information on transformer service, click on transformers.
We have the technical know-how to test, clean, and maintain all other equipment in your substation. From air switches, contactors, ground grids, cables, and bus, we can provide detailed maintenance for these components. Electrical and mechanical tests will be performed in accordance with our rigorous specifications to ensure that your substation functions as designed. We also have a comprehensive maintenance and repair plan for the battery system in your switchgear. In general, if it’s in your medium or high voltage substation, we can help you with your maintenance requirements.
Low Voltage Substation
Our expert team of technicians can repair, test, maintain, and troubleshoot your low voltage switchgear and all of the 480 volt equipment in your substations, including circuit breakers, transformers, metal clad switchgear, motor control centers, starters, drives, contactors, switches, disconnects, bus, and cable.
Low voltage circuit breakers are thoroughly inspected and cleaned while all specified electrical tests are conducted. To validate the correct operation of the circuit breaker and the settings of the trip mechanism, our standards require conducting primary injection testing, which subjects the circuit breaker to actual nondestructive fault and overload level currents. To facilitate this testing, we bring one or more of our seven high-current test sets to your facility which, when coupled with our standard test equipment, allows us to meet the most stringent of testing specifications and turnaround windows you require.
In addition to all of the above, we also provide extensive diagnostic testing, repair, and if necessary, replacement of your pad mount or substation transformers. Please see our page dedicated to transformers.
We also maintain and test all of your switches and disconnects. These units are cleaned and their fuses are verified against the site one-line; any interlock systems are checked for proper operation, and a comprehensive set of electrical tests are conducted. These tests include insulation resistance, phase to ground, phase to phase, and contact resistance all performed with our calibrated equipment.
We can also service your starters, contactors, and motor control centers. Standard services to this equipment include a detailed cleaning, careful visual inspection, electrical testing, and verification of all connections.
During your next outage, why not have your switchgear and substation maintenance partner also help prevent a dangerous fault with this critical equipment? When properly de-energized and isolated, we offer detailed inspection and testing of your 480 volt bus and cable systems. The services include cleaning of all conductors and connections, testing to ensure good ground isolation and insulation resistance, inspections for any signs of overheating or weak spots in the insulation, and re-torque all accessible bolted connections.
Our comprehensive service offering for low voltage substations ensures that one company can satisfy all of your power maintenance needs.
Project Report
Included with our services are detailed final reports that cover the findings of the entire project. All test sheets, documentation of settings and areas of concern are included in the report. Where appropriate, our team will provide proposals to either replace damaged equipment or work with you to repair units that are out of specification. In all cases, you can count on our assistance at every step of the process!