A large utility customer wanted a quick turnaround on the EPC of a 138kV switchyard and tie-in for a wind farm but did not have the internal resources to do it themselves. Beta’s Agile EPC approach, which uses integrated design and Factory-Built Substations, offered just what the customer needed.

We showed them the benefits of using an EPC contractor to install a Factory-Built Substation. And after working with Beta’s conventional EPC team on two prior projects, the customer was confident in Agile’s ability to execute.

This project involved several significant challenges, but our team pulled through and finished the project in plenty of time for the customer to meet their deadline. When COVID-19 caused staffing challenges, we arranged for alternate crews to help with the construction to minimize schedule impacts.

The project also required a complicated outage schedule due to high electricity demand and summertime regulations, so our team had to complete the majority of work at night during off-peak hours. Then, right as the energization date arrived, so did Hurricane Hanna. We put our team’s safety first and decided to postpone energization. Although this delay was frustrating, we demonstrated our commitment to making safety our top priority.

When the customer had a last-minute request that required additional equipment, Agile used its relationship with manufacturing partners to leverage an on-time delivery to maintain the scheduled energization. This saved the customer time after the project completion because it meant they could utilize the asset right away, ultimately providing a prompt return on investment.

Our customer discovered how successful they could be when applying an EPC approach to Factory-Built Substations, and we proved that a big part of their substations can be factory built, even at higher voltage levels. The factory-built approach also delivered the safety advantages our customer was seeking, including reduced risk from fewer major lifts on site and a reduction of on-site crew members (which also helped mitigate COVID-19 risks).  

While this switchyard’s design differed from our customer’s previous projects, it met their equipment specifications and standards. Our customer recognized the effort and headaches that the Agile by Beta® approach saved their engineers and plans to replicate this approach for future projects.