Power Generation

Power utilities face challenges ranging from infrastructure transition to shortages in expertise and time for project and program management. Proper planning and response to these needs demands intelligent cost analysis to determine the best options and schedules for upgrades, installations, and commissioning. That scope of work often demands documentation on existing infrastructure status and performance to start the permitting process and comply with all regulatory requirements. These processes often require on-site and managerial collaboration within the Project Management Office to plan and achieve the best results. In response to these needs, ENTRUST provides the capabilities, depth of knowledge, and progressive industry insights to guide power utilities through every step and scale of operational improvement, safety, and performance. Best practices are installed through this process of program management to provide better results in the near term and next-generation assurance.

Planning new power generation facilities or upgrading existing infrastructure takes insight that is not always available from the owner or developer perspective. That is why clients turn to ENTRUST Solutions Group for consultation and direction as owner’s engineers. Our experts apply state-of-the-art analysis and assessment tools to generate valuable decision-making data and interpret those findings to provide a clear picture of the efficiency, safety, and profitability of new or existing power generation facilities. We excel at eliminating guesswork in many categories, from financing to procurement, documentation to project schedules. These services include expert insights on siting and permitting, interconnection support, commissioning, and regulatory management. The result is a far more predictable and secure owner’s engineer process from beginning to end.

Owners and managers in the power generation industry face regulatory and economic pressures to upgrade existing facilities, install adequate protection and control systems, and build best practices into connectivity with the grid network. ENTRUST provides protection and controls engineering to clients ranging from utilities seeking ways to overhaul aging systems to developers seeking design and study for potential new facilities. Within the realm of substation engineering, ENTRUST delivers deep expertise in industry-test protection and controls for power generation facilities and substations, including arc flash prevention for power generation entities.

Consulting on project development can begin at many points along the path from siting to commissioning. Typically the process begins with establishing the framework for sound decision-making, especially on new initiatives. ENTRUST Solutions Group guides project development for generation facilities seeking to assess project potential, define options, establish planning and development goals, and build implementation schedules. To achieve these aims, our engineering experts provide technical screening analysis for viable locations near connecting infrastructure, services for siting and suitability, conduct reviews of environmental and regulatory requirements, and provide financial analysis studies to determine each project’s market potential. All these factors combine to establish the go-to-market strategy. ENTRUST provides the expertise of a national perspective and regional service consulting and project development role for many successful entities across the country.

The mission of ENTRUST Solutions Group interconnection support is to help power generation facilities plan and navigate through the interconnection process utilizing the best analytical information available to anticipate the expected outcomes of the regional planning coordinator’s evaluation process. Power generation projects seeking critical insights on costs and viability benefit from the perspectives delivered through System Impact Studies (SIS) and Facilities Studies (FS). Out of these processes emerge cost estimates and planning for direct-connect network upgrades and power flow screening analysis ranging from less than 20MW to over 1,600MW. Our highly qualified team of ENTRUST engineers has decades of experience dating from the early days of deregulation, including the technical aspects of Open Access Transmission Tariffs (OATT) to the most recent RTO process reforms. As projects progress, our teams guide power generation initiatives through interconnection request applications and Interconnection Service Agreements (ISA) and provide direction for projects aligned with the North American Reliability Corporation (NERC) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). ENTRUST also advises on the economics of interconnection, including projected costs of reinforcing or upgrading assets, conducting time studies to determine the functional interconnection impact on networks, the threat of potential service interruptions, and preventing expensive mistakes from poor planning.

Power generation facilities looking to upgrade operations are increasingly turning to insights provided by data analytics to improve productivity, efficiency, and safety. The process begins by identifying the real-time function of critical assets and how effectively they connect within facilities and external networks. High-quality data is useful for troubleshooting problems in real-time and achieving more with systems ranging from the scale of specific machines up to entire enterprise systems to create predictive models useful in operational and management decisions. Though it often takes place in increments, achieving data maturity through analytics delivers the insights needed to map and install upgrades, conduct expansions, or plan all-new systems. ENTRUST’s commitment to data democratization means your organization owns everything generated in these processes. Our role is to help you create and leverage these capabilities to achieve superior results now and in the future.

Owners and managers in the power generation industry consistently face regulatory and economic pressures to upgrade existing facilities, install effective protection and control systems, and build best practices into connectivity with the grid network. ENTRUST provides protection and controls engineering to clients ranging from utilities seeking ways to overhaul aging systems to developers seeking design and study for potential new facilities. These include arc flash protection protocols for facilities ranging from large industrial complexes to small data centers. A safety limitations study can reveal potential sources of arc flash in equipment that is improperly rated, designed or installed. Yet not every problem is infrastructure-related. Identifying the cause and nature of potential energy level incidents often requires a broader perspective. It involves training on the impact of external factors such as dust or moisture accumulation, material failure, corrosion, and other conditions. ENTRUST Solutions Group provides deep expertise in industry-test protection and controls engineering, flash prevention, and safety training for power generation facilities and substations.

Examining the viability of a power generation development project requires due diligence on the type and compatibility of the infrastructure and equipment proposed for the project. ENTRUST engineers act in a consulting role for both technical and financial assessments. The breadth of this analysis extends to procurement, where industry connections and insights can save clients millions of dollars through intelligent sourcing. That level of insight extends across all areas of due diligence services, with ENTRUST acting as an independent inspector and advocate through all aspects of project assessment. Our high rate of client retention in all business sectors is a key indicator that our due diligence processes earn long-term relationships with our clients.

Developers and existing power generation facilities planning new infrastructure or upgrades to existing facilities face a complex array of siting and permitting challenges. That is especially true for developers running lean on personnel or facility teams occupied with daily operations. All benefit from the siting and permitting expertise provided by ENTRUST engineers, who guide the process from concept to completion. The powerful technology of GIS (geospatial) analytics provides data critical to making better decisions, including physical site placement and drawing a clear financial picture of all strategies and options. When projects are approved, ENTRUST consults on all regulatory and permitting processes required for traditional utilities, emerging technologies, owner engineers, and industrial or private customers.

The choice to engage in plant upgrades and retrofits depends on the condition of existing infrastructure and the potential operational benefits of investing in a renewal of plant design. Clients call on ENTRUST Solutions Group to provide analysis on the best options in plant upgrades and retrofits to achieve target capacities and operational effectiveness. ENTRUST experts conduct plant audits, metallurgical assessments, material flow rate testing, and data analysis to determine the best options for upgrades and retrofits. The data derived from these tests inform financial studies and projected return on investment. ENTRUST also delivers recommendations on safety improvement, applying new technology, and seeking the most efficient path to compliance with regulatory and environmental requirements. That is the balanced approach we take to helping our clients determine the best course of action in plant upgrades and retrofits.

Legacy equipment under stress loads beyond their original design constitutes a genuine threat to consistent, safe operations. Conducting high energy piping analysis helps power plant facilities identify and find and resolve factors such as seam-welded pipe failure, hanger-mounted pipe breakdown, excessive bending, or cyclic stresses due to fluctuating loads. ENTRUST conducts a comprehensive assessment of these and other challenges in piping conditions using 3D technology to determine pipe thickness, signs of cracking, creep damage, surface corrosion, and other metallurgical problems. High energy piping analysis creates a map on the predicted life cycle for piping, including recommendations for repair, replacement, inspection schedules, and outage prevention.

Protecting metal assets against corrosion is a question of being stealthier than the interaction between active materials and the elements. Power generation facilities call on ENTRUST engineers and metallurgy specialists to plan and provide cathodic protection through zinc or magnesium alloy (anode) links to draw off otherwise corrosive electrical charges as sacrificial protection. To plan cathodic protection, ENTRUST engineers and metallurgists consult with power generation facilities to assess pressures and conditions that lead to failure. Our staff includes leading metallurgists in the power generation field who guide teams of engineers working through our nationwide network of regional offices. That means ENTRUST clients get high-level expertise combined with local service and support.