Substation Designed To Weather the Storms

Elkin L. Henao, Maria C. Isaza and Juan D. Garcia G. HMV Engineers Ltda. hmv@h-mv.com Aug 1, 2006

The design and construction of air-insulated substations in areas in the Dominican Republic that have no special environmental requirements must follow national design standards using sophisticated and highly technical procedures. However, it is necessary to use innovative techniques when the substation is sited in a location subject to severe weather and adverse soil conditions. This was the situation for the Monte Ro Substation, which was designed to connect the 138-kV national grid to a new 100-MW power plant located 100 m (330 ft) from the Caribbean Coast near Azua City in the Dominican Republic. The Monte Ro Power Corp., a power-generation company with more than 125,000 beneficiaries (formed by CAT Power Venture as a major investor), awarded HMV Engineers an engineering, purchase and construction (EPC) contract to provide a new nonconventional substation using design techniques, and an integrated control and protection system, to withstand the extreme Azua site environment. The substation has operated successfully since commissioning in 2003.

SITE CONSIDERATIONS.
The Monte Ro power plant and its associated 138-kV substation are located near the Dominican's Caribbean Coast and are subject to the coast's extreme environmental conditions. A traditional 138-kV substation requires an area of about 4500 sq m (48,440 sq ft). However, this amount of space was not available in the Azua site because of the proximity of a small river. Space constraints and other adverse foundation conditions required the optimization of the substation's physical design. Additionally, new nonconventional design procedures were required to meet the following conditions:

Unfavorable soil conditions in the area selected for the substation location High possibility of floods, requiring larger foundations and reinforcement of supports for switchgear and mechanical equipment The selection of special cables designed to operate in salt-water conditions.

BUSBAR DESIGN
Conventional substation design is based on flexible busbars supported by metallic lattice structures. As 138-kV structures are positioned at a height of 16 m (52 ft), the wind load on the structures affects their stability. Wind pressure on structures increases with the square of the wind speed and linearly with heights over 10 m (33 ft). For the

Monte Ro Substation, wind speeds up to 240 kmph (150 mph) had to be taken into consideration. Prior designs for substation structures provided two connection levels for cable terminations and flexible busbars at heights of 10 m and 12.5 m (33 ft and 41 ft). The structure, constituted by lattice beams, had to be held in position with guy wires to avoid possible deformation caused by wind pressure, seismic loads and short-circuit forces. Supporting guy wires needed extra space in the substation area. This substation was designed with self-supporting busbar structures placed at the lowest possible height. To reduce the impact of the structures, tubular steel busbar supports were selected having considered space limitations, cost and provision for future expansion. The tubular busbars were connected to the pole-type isolators at a height of 8 m (26 ft), while the disconnectors employed had a special configuration known as the tandem type. The Monte Ro Plant Substation was designed with a double busbar and bus-coupler circuit breaker. The substation's circuit breakers include two line bays, three transformer bays, an inter-bus coupler bay and one spare bay. The double busbar design allows for routine maintenance that is more frequent than usual due to the close proximity of the sea-saline environment. Maintenance can be performed without interruption or reduction in the output of the power plant. The capacity of the three transformers installed provides adequate capacity with one isolated unit. The tubular bus supports reduced the inter-phase separation, the outgoing line bays and access way were optimized, and various options for the disconnector were considered before finally deciding that a tandem-type disposition was the most suitable. This optimization procedure reduced the site area required to 3400 sq m (36,500 sq ft), 75% of the conventional space required. In addition to the considerations that preceded busbar selection (electrically generated forces), a fundamental aspect was the need to guarantee the busbars were adequate to withstand the mechanical resistance, particularly against the effects of wind pressure. Therefore, it was necessary to increase the element sections in order to avoid excessive deflections that could have impacted on personnel safety limits. Aluminum busbars with an 80-mm (3.15-inch) outside diameter and a 64-mm (2.5-inch) inside diameter met the mechanical requirements and the horizontal deflections were reduced by 35%.

FOUNDATIONS
The soils in that area are of a heterogeneous and compressible soft type with a depth of 2 m (6.6 ft) to 8 m (26.4ft). Below that first soil layer are some harder, deeper soils, mainly composed of clay, sand and gravel. The soil mechanical strength increases with depth. Due to the inability of the in-situ soil composition to support heavy loads, special foundation designs were required for the control room, transformers and other substation equipment. The substation equipment and control room foundations were sited on piles ranging from 0.40 m to 0.60 m (1.3 ft to 2.0 ft) in diameter and 10 m (33 ft) long located on a 2-m by 2-m (6.2-ft by 6.2-ft) grid.

FLOOD CONSIDERATIONS
The substation was built on a terrace, at an elevation of 3 m (10 ft) above mean sea level (msl), even though flooding to an additional depth of 1 m (3.3 ft) could occur in the event of a hurricane. This condition required an additional step, with an additional terrace of 1 m above the substation floor to avoid immersing the transformers. The high possibility of floods required special design of the control panels on equipment support structures. The control panels were mounted 1.2 m (3.9 ft) above floor levels, making access ladders necessary. The potential flood condition forced the use of power and control cables with humidity protective layers able to withstand longterm seawater immersion. It was also necessary to eliminate the grouping boxes or marshalling kiosks and any other connection or electrical joints below the substation floodable elevation.

SEAWATER PROTECTION
To withstand corrosion in the extreme environmental conditions, the Monte Ro Substation structures were subjected to surface protection in accordance with ASTM A123. A 100-micron zinc layer was applied to those metallic elements such as beams, plates and other similar components. Also, a 150-micron (6 mils) dry exterior finishing layer was applied by a catalyzing epoxy barrier and enamel mixture. Two methods were used for the design of low-voltage motor connections, external switchgear control and command equipment, alarm and position signal acquisition, and other equipment constantly under seawater. The first took advantage of fiber-optic connections to integrate the control and protection system located in the substation control house. The intelligent electronic devices' (IEDs') digital in and out units were connected to the control box in the switchyard so that two fiber optics could be used for all the equipment commands and signals. However, for the motor-supply signals and current and voltage signals used in the protection equipment, it was necessary to install a cable with special protection that allowed it to be submerged long term in seawater. A second alternative comprising multi-core cables for all connections was evaluated for all the connections as it guaranteed long-term submersion of the substation cable in seawater without affecting generation plant operations. Although the integrated control and protection system market offers IEDs designed for outdoor switchyard installation, they are expensive; therefore, it was both more reliable and economical to use a multi-core submersible cable for all the substation connections. The decision to adopt this method was made from the outset of the project to ensure that the manufacturing of this special cable did not delay the project. The optimal solution was a screened/armored multi-core cable construction with a PVC sheath, an anti-humidity external layer, a copolymer corrugated aluminum tape to avoid the axial water circulation and a polyethylene external sheath.

SUMMARY
Efficient interdisciplinary work was required to design and construct a low-cost, largecapacity substation with excellent operative conditions when positioned in a hostile Caribbean environment ruled by hurricanes, saline contamination and frequent floods. This substation, coupled with the new design characteristics, will certainly improve the reliability of the region's electric power delivery. The Monte Ro generating plant and its associated substation are now under commercial use, properly accomplishing their role in the Dominican electric network. The special soil treatment has proven to be effective. The structure height increase and the special protection against saline-equipment-support-structure corrosion have all been carefully executed. The process followed all flood requirements. The substation has proven to have functionality, flexibility, efficient equipment arrangement, satisfying safety and security standards, and very importantly, keeping the cost of the project below the initial budget.

Elkin L. Henao received his degree in electrical engineering in 1988 from Pontificia Bolivariana University, where he also earned a specialization in transmission and distribution. Since joining HMV Engineers in 1988, he has held positions in design and commissioning areas. Currently, Henao is the director of the EPC Projects division. ehenao@h-mv.com Mara C. Isaza received her degree in electrical engineering from Colombia National University in 1983 and joined HMV Engineers. Isaza's engineering career has given her a broad base of experience following positions linked to industrial and utility projects. Since 1997, she has held the post of project director. misaza@h-mv.com Juan D. Garca G. received his degree in electrical engineering from Pontificia Bolivariana University in 1994 and started his career as the substation maintenance auxiliary engineer. Garca G. is the director of the Substation Control, Protection and Ancillary Services Group. jgarcia@h-mv.com

Monte Ro Environmental Conditions

Height above sea level meters (ft) Daily average temperature C (F) Daily maximum temperature C (F) Maximum metal pieces sun exposition temperature C (F) Daily minimum average temperature C (F) Annual average rain precipitation mm (inches) Maximum relative humidity (%) Minimum relative humidity (%) Average relative humidity (%) Isoceraunic level (number of thunder days per year) Salinity level (under IEC 60815) from 1 (no pollution) up to 4 (maximum pollution): Seismic acceleration (% from gravity) Wind speed for the base design kmph (mph) < 2 (6.6) 25 (77) 34 (93) 70 (158) 16 (61) 1400 (55) 90 80 84 130 4 0.20 240 (150)