ATC completes Pulliam Substation facility improvements

Facility improvements were required at the Pulliam Substation to accommodate WPS’ siting of a 85 MW combustion turbine. The scope included replacing, retiring and adding breakers; and adding and replacing a number of disconnect switches. In addition, a line needed to be relocated for the interconnection. ATC system studies identified 69 kV and 138 kV equipment upgrades due to pre-existing fault duty and/or stability studies.

The project was on a fast-track. ATC received the CA on January 31, 2003 and began construction on February 3. The line was relocated three weeks later. The 138 kV equipment upgrades were completed by mid-March, prior to the CT start-up, and substantial completion of the remainder of the project by July 1.

In order to do the work in this time frame, the outages needed to be coordinated with plant operations and other work in the area. Line outages on critical circuits were limited to one day each, while 138 kV bus outages limited to two days.

ATC Project Manager Peter Prast remarked that this project was challenging because it started in the dead of winter and the opportunities for outages to do the work were limited. Much had to be accomplished in a very short period of time. "To meet the particular needs of this project, we broke the work into smaller segments and the workgroup into smaller teams to accommodate the outage schedule. In that manner, we could continue moving forward to completion. Due to the hard work of all involved, the project was 99 percent finished by July 1."