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Summer Lane Shines
16/03/2018
The £6million strategic investment project is upgrading much of the equipment at the primary substation site, while also spreading load between two locations.
Summer Lane supplies the electricity which serves much of the city centre and Financial Quarter, the thriving economic powerhouse in Birmingham, which includes big businesses such as Prudential, HSBC, Aston University and the Paradise Circus redevelopment. A new primary substation at Hockley is supporting half of the original customers fed from Summer Lane, with the transformed site supporting the other.
Picture caption: Fastening cleats to the new 11kV cables.
Work started in September 2016. Until recently, the Birmingham City team were based in offices there, before the new Birmingham depot opened in late 2017.
To date, two new 30MVA transformers have been installed, as well as three new 11kV switchrooms which are to replace the existing switchrooms built in the 1960s. The new switchgear has been replicated next to the old switchgear to enable a smooth transition when the circuits are switched over later in the year. Over 5km cable is being laid to connect the old cable from the road to the new 27 circuits.
WPD Projects Engineer Barry Organ, who is responsible for overseeing the project, said: “Configuring the network across two sites not only offers greater flexibility in case of faults and maintenance but also provides the opportunity to build extra capacity for growth in the future.”
The project has also come with its own unique challenges, as Barry explained: “The building was heavily contaminated with asbestos. It’s incredible what asbestos has been used for – we’ve found it in paint, and it’s been used to fill in holes and gaps in walls. We had to carry out extensive surveys to establish where asbestos is and remove it or deal with it to provide a safe working environment for staff.”
Access to replace transformers has also been tricky, with the 3m high substation access gates meaning old and new transformers had to be dismantled and reassembled to get out and in. This took four weeks in total.
The site works have also left a few spine-tingling moments for staff. Barry said: “The building dates back to the late 1800s when it was part of Birmingham hospital. Rumour has it that the site is haunted – a children’s mortuary used to form part of the site. It’s led to much banter and discussion within the team, but when it’s dark and you’re on your own the smallest sound can set you on edge!”
Barry added: “We’ve had so many different types of expertise involved in the project such as electrical and civil designers, fitters, jointers, commissioning engineers, asbestos analysts, to name a few, and it’s a rewarding challenge to oversee a project of this complexity.”
The second of the two new grid transformers is being switched on in March. The final old transformer is to be removed in October, with all circuits transferred by the end of the year, when the final switchgear will be removed.
Summer Lane supplies the electricity which serves much of the city centre and Financial Quarter, the thriving economic powerhouse in Birmingham, which includes big businesses such as Prudential, HSBC, Aston University and the Paradise Circus redevelopment. A new primary substation at Hockley is supporting half of the original customers fed from Summer Lane, with the transformed site supporting the other.
Picture caption: Fastening cleats to the new 11kV cables.
Work started in September 2016. Until recently, the Birmingham City team were based in offices there, before the new Birmingham depot opened in late 2017.
To date, two new 30MVA transformers have been installed, as well as three new 11kV switchrooms which are to replace the existing switchrooms built in the 1960s. The new switchgear has been replicated next to the old switchgear to enable a smooth transition when the circuits are switched over later in the year. Over 5km cable is being laid to connect the old cable from the road to the new 27 circuits.
WPD Projects Engineer Barry Organ, who is responsible for overseeing the project, said: “Configuring the network across two sites not only offers greater flexibility in case of faults and maintenance but also provides the opportunity to build extra capacity for growth in the future.”
The project has also come with its own unique challenges, as Barry explained: “The building was heavily contaminated with asbestos. It’s incredible what asbestos has been used for – we’ve found it in paint, and it’s been used to fill in holes and gaps in walls. We had to carry out extensive surveys to establish where asbestos is and remove it or deal with it to provide a safe working environment for staff.”
Access to replace transformers has also been tricky, with the 3m high substation access gates meaning old and new transformers had to be dismantled and reassembled to get out and in. This took four weeks in total.
The site works have also left a few spine-tingling moments for staff. Barry said: “The building dates back to the late 1800s when it was part of Birmingham hospital. Rumour has it that the site is haunted – a children’s mortuary used to form part of the site. It’s led to much banter and discussion within the team, but when it’s dark and you’re on your own the smallest sound can set you on edge!”
Barry added: “We’ve had so many different types of expertise involved in the project such as electrical and civil designers, fitters, jointers, commissioning engineers, asbestos analysts, to name a few, and it’s a rewarding challenge to oversee a project of this complexity.”
The second of the two new grid transformers is being switched on in March. The final old transformer is to be removed in October, with all circuits transferred by the end of the year, when the final switchgear will be removed.
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