PSE completes Ardmore Substation | Facility showcases innovations, new techniques

Published 2:47 pm Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Puget Sound Energy has completed its new Ardmore Substation and power from the facility should be flowing to homes, businesses and schools of 22,000 customers in the Overlake area of Bellevue and Redmond.

The facility is located at 15335 NE 24th St. in Redmond.

Siting the new substation involved numerous meetings with residents in both Bellevue and Redmond. The final site is south of Northeast 24th Street and west of Bel-Red Road. The spot is the former location of a Bank of America branch.

PSE’s traditional substation footprint was too large to fit on a number of properties so several technology and design innovations were incorporated to save space without sacrificing reliability.

The work involved more than 165 employees from multiple departments, more than 20 partnering companies, and several consultants and contractors.

“With a tight time line, it’s always a challenge to get so many entities to work together,” said Scott Tongue, the project’s substation foreman, “but it was a fun project for the substation department getting to work with new technology and equipment and we did what we were best at, building substations.”

The soon-to-be-completed 50 Megavolt-ampere (MVA) capacity substation will initially serve about 22,000 customers and can be expanded to serve 160 MVA of load (enough for about 60,000 -70,000 customers). It integrates the latest technology and innovative design. Some highlights include:

· Three times the capacity at half the size. The substation uses gas insulated switchgear (GIS) technology to achieve a very small footprint without sacrificing capacity or reliability. The GIS is more than 80 percent smaller than similarly constructed traditional “open air” bus work.

· Designed with the future in mind. The Ardmore substation is smart grid-enabled for the future and incorporates another step forward with its distribution automation, PSE said. If a piece of equipment fails, the substation can automatically reroute power to restore service to the affected customers. This is a first for PSE and another example of what a collaborative design team can accomplish.

· Efficient technology. Ardmore substation is the first installation of “Flat SCADA” (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) architecture at PSE. This design eliminates multiple database configurations, redundant devices, a lot of redundant wiring and reduces database errors. It also allows for remote HMI (Human Machine Interface) access. Viewing the HMI remotely allows personnel to view and analyze substation status, alarms, and operations before sending workers to the site.

· Community-driven design. Ardmore includes multiple artistic design features, the result of collaboration with the jurisdiction and community. The theme of “energy and motion” is seen throughout its design, from the landscaping, architectural fences and walls to the artistic landmark transmission pole in the front of the station.

The green mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining wall replaces more traditional concrete walls; more than 11,000 plants that have been planted into soil filled bags will grow together to form a strong vegetation mesh and earth retaining wall around the front of the substation.