Location: Northwest New Mexico on Tribal Land
Cost: $47 million
Completed: 2014
T&D’s capabilities in field work, surveying, engineering, design, modeling, project management, negotiation, and construction management are demonstrated with this project. T&D worked with a construction company to deliver an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) solution creating an independent tribal electric utility company.
A third-party owned 345kV Switching Station was built near the middle of its 160-mile transmission line. The station is a 3 breaker 345kV ring bus station with a 25MVAR 345kV reactor built to feed the new utility’s station. The Switching Station located next to and fed from the adjacent 345kV station includes a 345kV breaker, 345/115kV autotransformer, and associated four 115kV breaker ring bus station initially populated with one 115kV breaker. This station is the source for a 59-mile 115kV Transmission line connecting the Switching Station to a new Substation. Due to visual impact concerns, concrete single tangent poles colored to blend with the surrounding environment and non-specular, non-reflective conductor were used with vertical braced post design. To allow for future load, 477 MCM ACSR conductor was selected. The distribution substation is a 12/16/20 MVA 115/24.9kV station with a high side 115kV breaker and 3 low side feeder breakers. This station is large enough to feed the tribal nation’s loads for many decades to come. The project also required a system inventory, data acquisition, modeling, and optimization of existing distribution devices and facilities with recommendations for improvement and optimization.
T&D was also responsible for the layout, right-of-way permitting, legal surveying, cultural and biological surveys, Environmental Assessment, aerial survey and photography, preliminary design and cost estimate, soil testing, final design, construction review, field inspections, communications, testing and commissioning of the facilities.