Tdworld 4086 Towers7
Tdworld 4086 Towers7
Tdworld 4086 Towers7
Tdworld 4086 Towers7
Tdworld 4086 Towers7

POWER Engineers’ Services Help AEP Win Top Industry Honor

June 24, 2016
The Edison Electric Institute award recognizes AEP’s leadership and innovation in replacing conductor on two 345 kV transmission lines.

POWER Engineers Inc. has helped American Electric Power successfully complete the longest replacement of energized conductor in the United States and bring more reliable power to the residents of South Texas. Now that landmark project has earned AEP the electric power industry’s most prestigious honor, the Edison Award.

The Edison Electric Institute award recognizes AEP’s leadership and innovation in replacing conductor on two 345 kV transmission lines. The lines begin in Corpus Christi and supply the majority of power to the Lower Rio Grande Valley, 120 miles to the south.

“Completion of the project helps to guarantee reliable electricity in South Texas for years to come,” said Erik Ruggeri, senior project engineer with POWER. “We are pleased that our services helped AEP complete the entire project eight months ahead of schedule and millions of dollars under budget.”

As the engineer of record, POWER worked closely with AEP’s contractor to design a temporary single-phase line that allowed the entire 240 circuit-miles to be replaced with aluminum conductor composite core while energized. It involved installing more than 1,440 miles of advanced conductor on the 240 circuit-miles.

Keeping the line energized meant that AEP’s customers could run their air conditioners, charge their cell phones or watch TV without interruption while AEP improved the reliability of the electric grid to meet a huge growth in demand. Lower Rio Grande Valley population has grown about 30 percent since 2000 and continues to expand.

POWER also provided engineering design services for the complete overhaul of the Lon Hill substation at Corpus Christi, where both 345 kV lines originate, and for work at four other 345 kV substations south of the city.

“Because the lines were being replaced while energized, substation construction became the determining factor in terms of outage duration,” said Joel Lankutis, the substation project engineer for POWER.” Coming up with a design that could actually be constructed under these outage constraints was the biggest challenge.”

POWER’s services included outage planning as well as scheduling and coordinating work on the stations and replacing the conductor. Engineering and construction had to be carefully placed in sequence and coordinated to make the most of the limited planned outages. POWER also expedited the protection and control center design in order to meet the construction schedule for a pre-fabricated control building.

AEP focused on the transmission system upgrade after extremely cold temperatures in February 2011 in the Lower Rio Grande Valley triggered record peak electricity demand.

The Edison Electric Institute presented its 2016 Edison Award to AEP during the annual institute convention in Chicago on June 15. EEI is the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Its members provide electricity for 220 million Americans and operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

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