HV SUBSTATION DESIGN

HV SUBSTATION DESIGN OVERVIEW

APD is one of the leading HV Substations designers in Australia with an experienced in-house team providing the range of required services nationally. Our veteran staff have successfully delivered over 100 HV substation projects with a proven track record on GIS and AIS substations for voltages up to 500kV.

Our staff comprises electrical, controls, telecommunications and civil engineers, draftspeople, technicians, project managers and supervisors across all disciplines – Primary, Secondary, SCADA, Communications, Protection, Civil, Structural, Testing and Commissioning.

APD Engineering personnel are frequently involved in the integration of packages from vendors such as ABB, GE, Alstom and Siemens as part of the design and commissioning works.

Our experience also covers transmission tower and powerline design for the range of voltages mentioned. See Power lines and Cables Services here for more information.

APD’s testing and commissioning team perform equipment and functional testing for HV assets, including primary and secondary testing, using in house equipment. This ensures safety and quality is uncompromised, project schedules are met, and delay costs avoided.

FEASIBILITY AND CONCEPT DESIGN

Substation Design Feasibility Studies 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:

Concept design preparation including layouts, elevations, site utilization plans, etc.
Preparation of technical specifications for all equipment relevant to HV Substations
Tender documentation preparation and assistance with tender evaluation
Cost estimation of HV infrastructure across the asset lifecycle.

DETAILED ENGINEERING DESIGN

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:

Civil / Structural design including earthworks, drainage, roads, foundations, bunds, structures, fencing and buildings.
Primary electrical design services including load flow and fault studies, earthing, insulation coordination, electromagnetic interference, lightning protection, switchyard lighting, layouts, elevations, bill of materials and cable schedules.
Secondary electrical design including schematics, terminations, materials lists, cable schedules for all types of protection schemes and protection settings including conventional and advanced substations protection schemes.
Substation Automation and Control design and configuration for SCADA, HMI, PLC, RTU, IED devices across various protocols. Including IEC61850.
Telecommunication systems and backbone communications infrastructure design including Microwave radio, SDH, PDH, Pilot, Fibre and legacy systems.
Detailed ancillary system design including fire, security, hydraulics, sewage, stormwater, access control, contour surveys and geotechnical studies.
Safety in Design, Safety Management and Construction Risk Assessments.

3D MODELLING

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.

TESTING AND COMMISSIONING

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:

CMC356 Omicron Secondary Injection Kit
CPC100 Omicron Primary Injection Kit
CP TD Omicron leakage reactance, insulation conditions and dissipation factor tester
CP CU Omicron Over Head Line Parameter and Earthing system analyser
CP CB Omicron 2KA Current injector
CIBANO 500 Omicron Test System for medium- and high-voltage circuit breakers
CTA CT Analyzer
CP SB1 Omicron Switch Box
HVA 60 – Cable VLF tester
PD 30 Partial discharge analyzer
Fluke 1507 1KV Insulator resistance tester
Fluke 376 High current clamp meter soil resistivity testing
AEMC soil resistivity tester
Fluke 1625 soil resistivity tester
Mitton current injection test set
Fluke 434 Power analyzer
Fluke 1555 10 KV insulator resistance tester
FRA Omicron Frequency Response Analyser
MIT1020 10 kV Insulation Tester
MIT481 1 kV Insulation Tester
OTS80PB Oil Break Down tester
HIOKI 3198 Power Analyzer
Thermal Imaging Camera

ASSET MANAGEMENT

Asset Condition Monitoring and assessment
Auditing and Reporting
Operational activities including HV switching and sub-contractor management
Maintenance Support including planned and unplanned maintenance activities
Asset Replacement, Disposal strategy development and works planning
Asset management information system
Risk management
Contingency planning
Capital expenditure planning

PROJECT & CONTRACT MANAGEMENT

Various Operating Methodologies including EPCM, EPC, D&C or Design Only
Planning and workflow management
Project Controls, Planning and Reporting
Procurement, Logistics and Inventory management
Management of Sub-Contract Services

PROTECTION DESIGN & SETTINGS

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.

EARTHING DESIGN, MODELLING & VERIFICATION

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.

CONTROL, AUTOMATION & SCADA

Concept design
Functional specification
Network layout
Equipment Selection
Client/Server HMI system design and configuration experience
PLC Programming and Integration (Allen Bradley, Schneider, GE, Siemens, Miri)
RTU Programming and Integration (Miri, Koyo)
DCS Programming and Integration (Emerson, Yokogawa and Honeywell)
SIS Programming and Integration (HIMA, Yokogawa, ICS Triplex, Honeywell)
Software application development (C++, C#, VB, VBA, PHP)
Operator interface (HMI/MMI) design
SCADA system integration
Flow Metering and Monitoring (AGA) Programming and Integration
Optimization of networks and process control systems
System Support and Remote Operations

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Concept design
Functional specification
Network layout
Equipment Selection
Radio Design (Including Propagation Testing and analysis)
Wireless telecoms and satellite communications design and desktop surveys
Wired telecoms design
Satellite Communications configuration experience
3G/4G Telecoms configuration experience
3G/4G communications desktop surveys experience
NBN and PSTN communications configuration experience
Ethernet network design and configuration experience
Fibre optic cable design and configuration experience
Managed (Cisco) Router and Switch design experience
Multiplexer (Nokia) Programming
Switch and Router programming
SQL database development, implementation, optimisation and maintenance (MS SQL, MySQL)
IT systems management (Windows Server, VMWare, Citrix XenApp, IP Networks)
Rail and Signalling Systems
VOIP and Telephony Systems
CCTV and Security Systems