This project was at the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant, which has the capacity to treat 370 million gallons of sewage a day. Singleton was the prime contractor for this project. We self-performed the majority of scope of work for this project. We coordinated subcontractors to perform the demolition, excavation, sheeting and shoring, concrete, steel, waterproofing, mechanical, and electrical testing by an independent testing company. Singleton installed a new 15kV/5kV electrical substation with electrical duct banks and modifications and additions to the electrical distribution system. This project was completed under difficult working conditions all while maintaining plant operational requirements with DC Water to keep the plant in dependable operation during construction.
We made modifications to the 15kV switchgear and replaced two outdoor transformers in Area Substation 3. The project also involved replacement of existing 4160 V switchgear lineups “A”, “B”, and “C” in Area Substation 1 along with new 350 MVA rating switchgear and bus ducts with vacuum interrupter type circuit breakers and solid-state protective relays. Modifications were made to existing 15 kV and new power distribution control panels as well as modifications to outgoing feeders from Area Substation 1 including new cables and cable trays. The replacement of 5 kV switchgear including stacked breaker with a new 4160V-480V Primary Sedimentation Unit Substation (USS-1) with 2500 KVA dry type transformers to replace the existing USS-1 including new feeders, manholes, duct banks, etc. Finally, our scope included replacement of 480V switchgears in Primary Sedimentation Unit Substations 3 and 5. Subcontracted work included the extension of 54-inch diameter Spent Wash Water pipe, removal and disposal of electrical equipment in Area Substation 4, roadway and site improvements, demolition of Primary Sedimentation USS-1.
All shutdowns were contingent on weather conditions and adjusted from day to day. Singleton has a long history of working closely with the DC Water’s operations staff to coordinate shutdowns of existing processes and commissioning of new work. This relationship has minimized process interruptions and has allowed for the acceleration of various phases of the work.
Blue Plains WWTP always has an enormous demand on the plant and could not tolerate any equipment or system outages at any point of the project. Failure of their systems would have disastrous effects on the environment. This was accomplished on this project without any incident. This project required extensive research of existing plant electrical distribution and control wiring, coordination with plant systems and services to ensure minimum impact to operations, and coordination with plant personnel for outages, load shifting, and commissioning. Singleton Electric employees demonstrated the highest degree of quality craftsmanship and technical skills to perform an outstanding job under difficult conditions.
In 2013, Singleton Electric won a Washington Building Congress Craftsmanship Award in the category of Power Generation, Distribution and Switchgear.