APD Engineering is Australia’s leading HV Substation Design consultant, with one of the largest pools of experienced substation engineers and high voltage design capability across the nation. Our clients include all major electrical utilities, renewable energy developers and industrial & mining companies.
We have the knowledge and practical experience to deliver GIS & AIS substations up to 500kV with full in-house capability across all substation related disciplines. Our engineering and design team provides industry-leading solutions for all substation applications, covering primary, secondary and civil/structural disciplines, as well as design, configuration and commissioning services for protection, control & automation and telecommunications.
An outstanding industry reputation and proven track record has allowed us to establish long term strategic relationships with our clients and resulted in APD completing more than 100 substation design projects across Australia, in both greenfield and brownfield scenarios.
APD’s Multidisciplinary Team provides a single interface for complicated and technically challenging projects reducing duplication and overheads. APD acts as a single consolidated and cohesive entity for Substations, Power Lines, Earthing & Power Systems Studies, Protection, LV/MV/HV Design and on-site implementation activities.
APD adds value through Innovation in technology and conforming / non-conforming tender support solutions, providing fit-for-purpose design and optimised capital expenditure.
Our team is at the cutting edge of technology in both the primary and secondary space using advanced materials and methodologies and substation automation. We pride ourselves on being experienced and responsive in challenging and changing work environments, meeting and exceeding our client’s needs.
Our services include:
Beyond concept and feasibility APD’s electrical, civil & structural engineers and draftspeople can undertake the detailed design required to progress a project to tender, construction, testing and commissioning.
The substation design process includes the following:
APD have proven experience in 3D modelling and drafting for substation design. This provides the client with a realistic representation of both existing and new equipment locations within the substation. 3D modelling also demonstrates the consistency of the design to customer standards.
Our ability to model entire substations, powerlines, wind & solar farms in 3D has allowed APD to ensure our projects are constructible and prevent costly changes under construction and site demobilization.
3D modelling is of critical value for existing or brownfield site augmentations where space is limited and shutdown times need to be minimal, assisting in the successful outcome of a project being on-time and on budget.
APD’s highly trained and experiences staff conduct HV equipment testing including CB, CT, VT, power transformers; functional testing of secondary systems such as protection settings & complicated protection schemes; use in-house Omicron testing gear (CPC, CMC) and knowledge of other manufacture’s equipment; prepare commissioning plans (ITP’s and ITR’s); and can provide operator training during handover.
APD hold a comprehensive suite of testing and commissioning equipment:
APD have extensive experience in protection design and settings. Each substation project involves a study of the existing protection design and settings which APD review and update accordingly as well as protection design and associated settings for new additional equipment.
APD earthing specialists have extensive experience with detailed earthing engineering and design drawings which include earth grid layout and conductor sizing, bonding requirements, layout and connection diagrams. Modelling of the earthing design is done using globally recognised CDEGS software. APD field staff utilise state of the art earth testing equipment to verify the earthing design and modelling.
APD Engineering was engaged to undertake Insulation Coordination and Reactor Switching Studies for a 275kV substation in South Australia. Advanced studies based on PSCAD/EMTDC modelling were…
Concept design, detailed design for installation of 10MVAR of reactive support for Mining Area C.
APD Engineering was engaged by BHP Iron Ore to provide HV Testing, Commissioning, Engineering Support & Design Revisions for their Jimblebar Mine Expansion.
APD was hired to perform detailed design and commissioning for the replacement of 66 kV Oil Circuit Breakers (OCB’s) at 5 different substations around Newman.
Development of the electrical, SCADA and communications design for the a new 66/11kV Substation.
33kV Junction Capacitor circuit breaker, CT and controller replacement.
