Prior to this project, the McChord area was fed from a joint-use substation that is outside of the Joint Base Lewis-McChord fenced area and used by CLP and Tacoma Power Utilities (TPU). The substation was difficult to access causing delayed responses to outages and impacting the overall reliability of the system. In addition, there was no voltage regulation and all the components in the substation were very old and needed major upgrades.
CLP proposed a solution that included installing a new 13.8kV switching station inside the fence and removing all the CLP-owned assets from the joint-use substation. CLP Engineering designed, supported procurement and construction, and conducted field testing and commissioning of the switching station. The switching station features an express 900A rated incoming feeder from TPU substation, a voltage regulator, alternative incoming feeder from another CLP substation, and 4 outgoing feeders in a main-tie-main bus configuration. The main-tie-main configuration is fully automated with digital relays and controllers.
Project Overview
Location: Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), Washington
Market Sector: Government
Services Type: Design Engineering, Testing and Commissioning
Timeline: 2020-2022
Client: U.S. Army
Design Features
- Distribution system redesign
- Improved capacity, reliability, redundancy, and safety
- Advanced protection, controls, and automation
- Smart grid technologies
Construction Features
- Small footprint switching station
- Feeder rerouting and terminations
- Extensive cable pulls and terminations
- Underground construction
Outcome
- Redundant and more reliable distribution system
- Digital relaying and controls
- Main-tie-main automation
- Better voltage regulation