S&C and EnergyLine Design Unique Integrated Switchgear Package in Record Time.

S&C, EnergyLine (S&C’s California subsidiary), and a major Midwest utility raced against the clock to design an integrated, high-reliability switchgear package for an important utility customer. The package utilizes S&C’s PME-9 Remote Supervisory Pad-Mounted Gear, EnergyLine controls with IntelliTEAM® Automatic Reconfiguration System software, WinMon® Graphical User Interface, and a unique decoupling indication feature.

The utility intended to gain practical experience with the package at a test substation before making it available for use. However, the customer requested the switchgear package for an upcoming facility that needed to be operational very quickly. All parties met the challenge of the stepped-up schedule.

One feature of this package is a sophisticated decoupling indicator that takes IntelliTEAM out of the “Ready” position. This prevents the IntelliTEAM reconfiguration software from operating when the switch operator is decoupled. The utility was so impressed with the decoupling indication feature that they made it a standard option on their Distribution Automation gear.

Even before the switchgear was put into service, the utility used the controls to resolve another problem. Using the controls, the utility was able to determine that accidental tripping of the customer’s main circuit breaker and the related transfer to a back-up generator was due to a defective relay on the customer’s electrical panel. They arrived at this conclusion when they went to the customer’s site and plugged a laptop computer directly into a port on the EnergyLine control’s faceplate. With the WinMon graphical user interface, the utility can monitor the status of the gear and perform this kind of troubleshooting from their desktop computers.

Complete coordination between S&C and EnergyLine led to the successful completion of this project in a compressed time frame. Due to the successful integration of the switchgear and controls, the utility decided to standardize on the entire package for their Distribution Automation needs.

Contact us to learn how S&C and EnergyLine Distribution Automation products can meet your requirements for critical customers.