Blue Plains Main Substation Switchgear Replacement

Owner

D.C. Water and Sewer Authority

Location

Washington, D.C.

Square Footage

6,400 sq. ft.

Date Completed

July 2007

Role

Prime Contractor

The Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant, the largest advanced wastewater treatment plant in the world, has a capacity of treating 370 million gallons of water per day. Prior to beginning the Main Substation project, the Singleton team thoroughly researched the plant’s existing electrical distribution and control wiring, and coordinated with plant personnel for outages, load shifting, and commissioning, as appropriate.

A majority of Singleton’s efforts focused replacing the entire 25 section 15kV switchgear that serves as Blue Plains’ main incoming switchgear for the entire plant. This work was performed in three phases to avoid interruption of plant’s electrical system, which would have led to disastrous effects on the environment. For each phase, Singleton replaced the incoming 15kv bus duct and outdoor transition from the 69kv to 15kv transformers, spliced new 15kv feeders to existing duct bank distribution in the new cable vault structure, and installed an independent steel floor-mounted conduit support system for the new 6-inch rigid conduits into the new cable vault building.

Singleton’s work on the Main Substation Switchgear Replacement earned the company a Washington Building Congress Craftsmanship Award in the Power Generation, Distribution, and Switchgear category.