DCCC – Primary Substation Replacement
As the prime firm/engineer-of-record, Gipe Associates provided mechanical and electrical engineering and construction administration services for the replacement of two aging outdoor nominal 35 KV primary – 15kV secondary substations on campus. The substations were installed in the mid-1960s as part of the original construction. Located off the campus entrance on Media Line Road, a 15kV feeder extended from each substation through underground ductbanks to serve a double-ended switchgear located within Founder’s Hall. The replacement equipment was relocated to a less conspicuous location to hide it from most prominent campus entrance.
Gipe evaluated the required substation capacity based on historical campus peak demand load with projected growth. The service was sized based on the facility HVAC systems equipped with electric heat, which was replaced with a natural gas source. The 15kV switchgear that served the campus was energized by the more reliable of the two feeders, with one main open and the tie breaker closed. The main-tie-main breaker operation was, at this time, performed manually due to the age and condition of the switchgear breakers. During the course of the design process, in coordinating with the Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO), the campus primary electrical service was ultimately revised from 33kV to 13.2kV. PECO had installed a newer 15kV feeder along Media Line Road, with plans for a second. A 15kV Service Switchgear for Dual Service with Automatic Transfer was designed in accordance with PECO’s specification requirements, including the yard enclosure and grounding, remote meter cabinet and telephone line.
The new service switchgear was installed and energized by PECO’s available 13.2kV feeder. The second feeder was not yet installed so the “reliable” 33kV feeder and associated substation remained in place. A temporary connection was made to the new service switchgear. The recently replaced campus 15kV feeders were disconnected from the substations and connected to the new service switchgear. The switchgear was coordinated with one of the manholes in the ductbank system due to its distance from the existing substations. The new ductbank was installed from the new service equipment to this manhole, and the campus feeder cables were pulled back and reinstalled without splices.
Other Project Highlights Include:
- Outage was minimized by installing replacement service equipment in different area
- Maintenance road was designed along with tree removal to obtain a suitable location
- Extensive coordination with PECO (utility) to make service connections on their system
Phased construction schedule employed to avoid outages while students were in class
Project Type: Higher Education,
