Switchgear Replacement Planning 1

[gokulkrish2]

Hello All,

We are planning to change our old lineup of switchgear to new Arc Flash switchgear next year shutdown at our company. The gear is already in order and in production. We hope that it will be ready by June which is when we have our next shutdown. Right now we have 12 days to complete this switchgear replacement. Downtime is very limited and this switchgear is our main lineup from the utility which means if this is down the whole plant is down. Hence, i want to make sure that i have all contingencies in place to get this project done in time and safely. I would highly appreciate if you guys can share your experience with such a project and share your lessons learned so i can be prepared for such scenarios. I have listed down the one i have got so far. Thank you all in Advance.

1. Incoming cable and Load Feeder Cables are short/Damaged during termination.
Contingency - Ordered a whole new Reel of cable to be on hand by June. There will be Labor crews of 5 who will be contracted to be on standby for any kind of help needed.

2. Terminations get damaged.
Contingency - Will order set of 12 Termination Kits ( Appropriate size for the cable size )

Thanks.
Gokul

 

[Zogzog]

Replacing your main switchgear just to get arc resistant gear?

 

[VTer]

I would highly recommend that you hire a consultant who does this type of design work on regular basis and is able to phase out the construction for you. Once that is done, hire a contractor capable of doing the work. Each site has its own challenges and you may benefit from people who do this for a living.

"Throughout space there is energy. Is this energy static or kinetic! If static our hopes are in vain; if kinetic — and this we know it is, for certain — then it is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature". – Nikola Tesla

 

[gokulkrish2]

@zogzog - No The lineup was old and with Air insulated Circuit Breakers. Maintenance cost was high and reliability was low. Hence opted to go with a new gear.

@VTER - We have already hired a EPC contractor and termed the project to be a turn key project. Hence they are supposed to do all this. As i am the project manager for this job and hence i wanted to make sure i capture everything if they happen to miss something as you guys have great experience from many years.

Regards,
Gokul

 

[Gragas]

My main concerns would be, after your cable ideas:

1) C&I cabling is a huge concern. The small misc cabling within the gear can be a huge time sink if done poorly. Verify vendor point to points, track any cabling that will cross shipping splits for the gear (as they will need to be reconnected on-site). You will need to have these items specifically tracked, especially since there will almost always be protection logic that crosses splits for the protection relays. Anything that must be retermed on-site, consider it a time sink trying to get you. ha

2) Verify relay settings. You will need to verify they are loaded correctly. This means your guys on site(whoever is doing startup) need to have correct software/firmware #'s, laptops with connection hardware for the relays in case items need to be reloaded, etc. If the relay settings are not correct and 100%, you cannot/shouldn't power the gear.

3) Breaker lift carts and hopefully you have at least one spare in case something doesnt work. This is especially the case if the manufacturer used a dummy breaker for FAT testing.

4) DC/UPS power sets. Make sure they are setup and ready to go. Hard to do much without power to your controls or protection.

5) Make sure your shipping/receiving guys are doing solid QA's upon receiving. Checking for shipping damage, kicking the BOM's to everyone to make sure everything is on-site, etc etc

 

[86ed]

If an EPC will be performing this turnkey work for you then you should be asking the EPC what contingency plans they have in place. If I were you, I'd be more interested in the contractual agreements regarding liquidates damages if the EPC is unable to execute the work in the allotted time frame---but it sounds like you have already hired the EPC so it may be too late to work in any favorable contractual wording in the event of project delays.

 

[gokulkrish2]

@Gragas: Thank you much for your valuable feedback. Will follow up with your suggestions.

@86ed: We have already written the contract in such a way to levi monetary fines on payments if they dont meet the installation timeline. What i am worried is that even then we levi fines, that is only a small portion of what we would be losing in terms of production loss. I do not think any EPC company would have agreed to do this job if we have to state in the contract for them to compensate for production loss incase the project is delayed. I am sure they are also working on contingencies as it would be a monetary loss for them too if the timeline is not met.

 

[VTer]

Do you have a testing contractor lined-up to perform all the acceptance testing before the equipment is energized?

"Throughout space there is energy. Is this energy static or kinetic! If static our hopes are in vain; if kinetic — and this we know it is, for certain — then it is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature". – Nikola Tesla