U.S. Manufacturers of Re-built Transformers - 115 kV

dpc · Jun 14, 2002

I'm looking for recommendations for potential U.S. suppliers of re-manufactured or re-conditioned transformers.

Voltage class is 115 kV. Size is 15 to 30 MVA. Load-tap-changer is required.

Does anyone have any advice or experience, positive or negative regarding specific shops? The reason for considering re-built unit is delivery time, primarily.

Thanks.

tgott · Jun 14, 2002

When we have a unit fail that we may want to have rebuilt, we usually contact Ohio Transformer, US Transformer, Waukesha, and ABB. (Southwest Electric had been on our list too until recently). Generally we do not buy units that were previously owned by others and have been remanufactured or refurbished after a failure since there are just too many unknowns about the history of the unit; even if it is essentially "brand new". Maybe a better route would be to check with some neighbor utilities regarding spares they might have and be willing to sell you or loan you (at a cost) until a new unit could be manufactured for you. A "loan agreement" would likely be weighted very heavily in favor of the loaner and cover items such as: right of recall should the loaning system need it, and what defines "need", will the loaned unit be returned or will the new unit become the spare for the loaning utility, who pays for movement of the unit, who actually becomes the owner of the unit should it fail during the loan period, etc. I might be able to send you an agreement we have executed when loaning one of our spare transformers if you would like.