ACTOM Power Systems has been awarded the electrical works contract for a new 132 kV gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) indoor switching station by the City of Cape Town.
The latest contract at the Morgen Gronde switching substation in Brackenfell will supply power to a large-scale data centre campus which is being built on an adjacent site and is premised as the first of several in the vicinity.
ACTOM Power Systems supplied and installed the electrical works for GIS switchgear in Cape Town’s 132 kV Foreshore indoor substation in 2009.
“This is the fourth substation contract we have received in as many years involving the provision of power to local cyber facilities, which is indicative of how this particular market segment has become a primary driver for the development of substation infrastructure countrywide,” said John McClure, Power Systems’ Operations Manager at ACTOM Power Systems. He added that this project also caters for envisaged future developments and network strengthening in the surrounding area.
In tendering for the contract Power Systems partnered with an international switchgear supplier, Xian XD Switchgear Electric Company of China. This makes Morgen Gronde the first of its kind in the City of Cape Town where the GIS switchgear will be designed and manufactured by an OEM outside of the conventional Europe-based producer niche.
“Consequently, we were put through a rigorous evaluation, with multiple rounds of comprehensive clarifications and close examination of our technical offering in particular, including all GIS type test certification, to ensure absolute conformity with every detail of the applicable IEC standards,” McClure emphasised.
“A valuable spin-off of this process, however, is that with full technical compliance now established, it stands us in good stead to extend our GIS offering in collaboration with Xian XD to the larger South African market.”
Xian XD will supply a 20-bay 132 kV GIS switchboard for the Morgen Gronde switching station.
The contract also includes the provision of a substation control system which provides for all events, measurements and operations to be controlled from either a local HMI station or the city’s main control centre. “This substation control system (SCS) means the entire switching station will be fully automated with completely remote functionality,” McClure highlighted.
Other ACTOM businesses involved in the project are Static Power, which will supply dc chargers and battery banks for backup power, and ACTOM Electrical Products, which will supply all cabling and cable accessories.
Construction of the switching station building will take another year or so to complete and Power Systems will only gain access for the electrical installation following that. As a result the contract is scheduled to run through to May 2023.
“The structural design of the building has to incorporate the parameters of our specific equipment, so we are under pressure to complete all the electrical designs to ensure the ground-breaking is not unduly delayed,” said McClure.
For more information visit: www.actom.co.za