Commercial growth, industrial expansion, renewable energy connections, data center development, and urban/suburban expansion are all driving the need for significant upgrades to our grid infrastructure. Even at the smallest levels, this growth is accumulating, necessitating system enhancements.
Additionally, our infrastructure is aging, with some components dating back nearly a century, throughout many regions in the U.S. Many utilities have initiated programs to invest billions of dollars over the next 10 to 20 years in replacing or upgrading this aging infrastructure to prevent potential failures.
Daniel Khoroshansky, Director of Substation Engineering & Design at ENTRUST, answers a few questions about the work ENTRUST is performing in the growing substation industry, which is playing an important role in the grid infrastructure revolution.
DK: ENTRUST’s substation group is currently executing multiple projects involving the design and engineering of large collector substations and switchyards for renewable energy sources. Wind turbines, for example, connect to these substations before linking up to the grid.
In addition to these specialized projects, we’re also involved in many substation and switchyard projects throughout the U.S., which our national team has extensive experience in. The demand for this work is growing rapidly due to the fast expansion of the electrical grid and the associated job market. This industry promises to keep us busy for the next 100 years as we expand the grid to accommodate growth across the country and facilitate the integration of renewable energy and other generation sources.
DK: Our team stands out because we bring decades of experience to the table in executing custom and highly complex brownfield work, in addition to our team’s capability to execute larger volume standardized engineering for our clients’ greenfield projects. As a tight-knit, agile, and highly experienced national team with our team members working in various offices or remotely throughout the U.S., we focus on creating tailored solutions for our clients, which include co-ops, municipalities, investor-owned utilities, and industrials.
We offer a comprehensive range of services within the substation fence. Our subspecialties include relay protection and controls, relay settings, civil & structural engineering, physical design, system planning, and SCADA. Unlike many other firms that cover only one or two of these areas and need to partner or outsource for the rest, we handle all these disciplines in-house.
At ENTRUST, we manage everything that leaves the substation. On the low and medium voltage sides, our distribution team takes over, while our transmission line team handles lines leaving the station on the high voltage side. This capability to manage all aspects of substation and external work is very rare and sets us apart from most firms.
DK: What excites me most is our ability to offer comprehensive services all under one roof. Our team possesses the expertise to not only execute custom projects but also to help our clients develop and improve standards tailored to their specific needs. Unlike many engineering firms that rely predominantly on pre-existing standards, we can work outside these boundaries and produce excellent, high-quality work, accommodating both greenfield and brownfield projects.
Greenfield projects involve starting from scratch, allowing for standardized designs across multiple sites. In contrast, brownfield projects involve integrating new elements into existing infrastructure, requiring a more tailored approach. Even with new equipment additions that apply standard client designs to an existing brownfield site, the interfaces for a project’s new and existing components are often non-standard due to the complexity of surgically inserting this new equipment. Our team’s proficiency in handling both greenfield and brownfield projects demonstrates our versatility and skill in the field.
DK: Considering both the growth demands and the imperative to address aging infrastructure, there’s both a high volume of ongoing programmatic work taking place throughout the U.S., as well as an immense workload looming in the coming years. Even with every engineer in the country fully occupied, there would likely still be another 50 to 100 years of work ahead.
Unlike other industries, such as software development, where instability is prevalent despite high salaries, the engineering sector offers greater stability and long-term opportunities. Salaries in this field, especially for experienced professionals, rival those of many software engineers, making this field an increasingly attractive one to be in. As a result, it is crucial for us to attract and train individuals for this industry as it promises to remain in high demand for the foreseeable future.
DK: In our industry, one of the cool things we’re doing on a regular basis is replacing old electromechanical devices with microprocessor-based ones. For instance, instead of having multiple 50 to 80 year-old protection and control devices in a panel, we can consolidate them into one microprocessor-based device. This upgrade involves replacing relays and redesigning panels, particularly in older power plants or substations. Our team surgically removes the old devices, as well as the thousands of wires connected to these devices, and integrates new relaying into the existing system.
Microprocessor-based devices offer several advantages over traditional ones. They are more reliable, simpler, and maintenance-friendly since they lack moving parts. Additionally, they can be programmed for various functions, including custom logical operations, unlike their counterparts. Another benefit is their remote accessibility; they can be connected to a network, allowing operators at the Control Center to monitor them from afar. This contrasts with traditional devices, which provide limited information remotely. Overall, this transition to microprocessor-based devices enhances efficiency and monitoring capabilities in our industry.
DK: Yes, we’re dealing with outdated oil circuit breakers that have served their purpose but are now experiencing issues like leaks and failures due to their age. These breakers, many dating back to the early 1900s, use oil to extinguish high-voltage arcs, similar to the spark you might see when plugging in an appliance at home, but on a much larger scale. To address these issues, many utilities are opting to replace these old oil circuit breakers with SF6 breakers. SF6 breakers use sulfur hexafluoride gas instead of oil for arc extinguishing, making them easier to maintain and longer lasting. This involves removing the old oil breakers and installing SF6 breakers in their place.
In addition to breaker replacements, we’re also replacing old transformers. On the protection and control side, we’re upgrading relays, while on the physical design side, we’re focusing on breaker and transformer replacements. These tasks, along with building new and very large substations/switchyards from scratch, contribute to the significant workload in our field.
DK: Clients appreciate our turnkey approach to the engineering package. While we don’t handle construction or EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction), we can collaborate with vendors for those aspects. What clients value most is that we provide all the engineering services within a single package, simplifying the process with just one purchase order for the entire project. This consolidated approach not only offers clients a clearer understanding of costs but also reduces the number of parties they need to manage. With only one entity to hold accountable, the process becomes more streamlined and efficient for the client.