Utility

345k Double Breaker Interconnect Substation

Construction Management

Scope of Work:

• Managed project construction through all phases of the greenfield build including civil work, below grade (ground grid, foundations, cable trench), and above grade (H-frame and steel erection, equipment setting, bus install, inside wiring, and incoming line stringing) 
• Provided safety, environmental, and quality oversight

Deliverables:

• On-site safety audits
• Daily progress reports
• Schedule tracking and input
• Requests for Information
• Non-conformance reports
• Facilitation of material deliveries/returns
• Third-party contractor coordination
• Commissioning support

Project Highlights:

• The two-year project was delivered on budget and on schedule with strong stakeholder engagement throughout its lifecycle. With no safety incidents and multiple contractors involved across major construction phases, Orbital successfully navigated complex coordination and handoff challenges by applying deep technical expertise and maintaining strict alignment with owner processes and procedures.

 

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69kV Transmission Line Extension

Transmission Line Engineering

Scope of Work

• Completed design to extend a 69kV line 15-miles to a new substation
• Designed 400 new steel direct embed poles supporting 477 ACSR and OPGW static
• Executed two new steel engineered poles on foundations for railroad crossing
• Existing distribution assets were designed to be transferred onto the new steel poles
• Completed four one-way switching structures at tie-in junctions

Deliverables

• Preliminary design, detailed design and construction package
• Drawings – plan and profile, framing drawings, bill of materials, drilling details, engineered pole loading tree drawings, foundation drawings, easement drawings, tree clearing drawings
• Studies – PLS-CADD model, monopole structure analysis, stringing, shielding protection
• Review vendor drawings for engineered poles, equipment, and drilling locations
• Construction and permitting support
• Incorporate as-built drawings post-construction

GIS Support

• Subsurface utility engineering level D utility locates were enhanced by digitizing both above-ground and below-ground infrastructure
• Developed a GIS web application that visualizes the entire 15-mile corridor
• The app integrated 2D mapping and 3D LiDAR survey data to improve cross-team collaboration, increase data transparency, and support more informed decision-making throughout the project lifecycle

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Utilities and Internet Service Providers

Joint Use Make Ready Engineering

Scope of Work

• Regularly completes projects comprising of 5,000+ poles for new communication company attachments on electric utility owned poles
  • Including Route design, distribution design, and distribution construction
• Currently, completing a 24,000 pole (new fiber attachment) project including:
  • Field data collection
  • Make ready design
  • Incumbent local exchange carrier application submission
  • One touch make ready administration
  • Asset management work application updates
  • Construction package creation

Program Highlights

• Acquired 60 complex easements, including railroad and river crossings, for a communication company build out across Pennsylvania. Additionally, spearheading a one touch make ready program for both internet service provider’s and investor-owned utilities. Increasing upfront route decisions for the internet service provider and significantly reducing application processing time for the investor-owned utility.

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Federal Funded Maintenance Program Management

Natural Gas

Scope of Work

• Lead multi-year remediation program targeting pipeline crossings, attachments, station coatings, and vehicular protection
• Developed and manage program execution for both distribution and transmission assets
• Coordinated engineering design, field documentation, and construction oversight
• Implemented phased strategy to address incomplete records, stakeholder coordination, and environmental constraints
• Updated scope to reflect evolving regulatory standards and risk assessments

Deliverables

• Engineering design packages for crossings, coatings, and protection devices
• Document control system for tracking as-builts, construction status, and compliance
• Quality assurance and quality control oversight during construction with daily/weekly field documentation
• Program tracking tools for budget, schedule, and asset-level progress
• Stakeholder communication framework to support utility, municipal, and contractor coordination
• Lessons learned and continuous improvement reports

Project Highlights

• The project successfully remediated all 23 targeted sites, and in 2024 the program expanded to include additional station coating and vehicular protection scope. The initiative supports the long-term goal of remediating over 800 assets by 2026, with an adaptable framework that accommodates evolving scope and shifting regulatory focus, providing full lifecycle support from design through construction, quality assurance, quality control, and final documentation.

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Buried Regulator Program Evaluation

Natural Gas

Scope of Work

• Evaluated 3,300 buried gas regulators across a regional network
• Developed cost-efficient remediation strategies based on risk and infrastructure proximity
• Assessed replacement options, including mainline extensions and above-grade designs
• Benchmarked project costs using historical construction data
• Built geospatial tools to identify regional clusters and prioritize replacements
• Created installation guidelines using a data-driven breakeven distance threshold

Deliverables

• Engineering assessment report including:
  • Cost comparisons for above-grade vs. below-grade remediation methods
  • Risk evaluation and compliance considerations
  • Capital project analysis of 27 replacement efforts
• GIS-based proximity analysis and cluster modeling to guide future planning
• Prioritization tool using spreadsheet, dashboard, and geospatial integration
• Replacement decision-making framework incorporating breakeven cost thresholds
• Tracking enhancements to align asset records across engineering and mapping systems

Project Highlights

• The project produced a utility-wide remediation model for buried gas regulators, defining per-regulator cost drivers and a breakeven point for choosing between regulator replacement and main extensions. Orbital analyzed multiple design alternatives to standardize future installations and enable strategic, program-wide planning through GIS, engineering analytics, and stakeholder input.

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New Client Connections

Electric Distribution Engineering

Scope of Work

• Construction design of a new overbuilt double 15kV circuit
• Designed new overhead extension dedicated for new customer while maintaining operation of underground services for surrounding industrial customers
• Completed demolition of existing underground facility services and distribution equipment
• Coordinated design with customer equipment, construction and in-service dates

Deliverables

• Site visits to scope and assess constructability of underground service
• Produce a detailed design and construction package (cost estimate, design sheets, design maps, bill of materials, circuit diagram, and material reservation using client work management application)
• Coordinate easement and permit research and secure permits with local & state jurisdiction
• Create and distribute construction packets to appropriate line shops
• Provide design support during construction

Project Highlights

• Successfully achieved customer cost commitments on a expedited schedule and provided critical support to our utility partner when internal design resources were unavailable to meet the project scope and schedule.

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138kV Substation Expansion

Substation Engineering

Scope of Work:

• Completed design to interconnect new 25MW battery & 100MW solar facility to existing substation
• Expanded existing 138kV ring bus and add one new 138kV breaker position
• Required temporary configuration of existing 138kV line to facilitate construction
• Engineered two new monopoles and one H-frame to reconnect transmission line to expanded station
• New control building with new fiber connection to support protection and controls, and telecommunications

Deliverables:

• Detail design and construction package
  • Drawings – demolition, protection and control, physical, civil, transmission line with load trees
  • Studies – ground grid, foundations, substation structures, transmission line structures
  • Review vendor drawings for equipment, engineered structures, and calculations
• Construction support
• Incorporate as-built drawings post-construction

Project Highlights:

• Orbital Engineering navigated precise construction sequencing including temporary configurations to enable site build out while limiting downtime. Design included the relocation of existing transmission line to successfully expand the substation for the new solar and battery facility interconnection.

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New 69kv-12.5kv Substation

Substation Engineering

Overview

• Location: Indiana
• Client: Midwest Investor-Owned Utility
• Timeline: Approximately 9 months

Scope

• Design civil and drainage plan for new substation
• Design new 69kv-12.5kv substation including the following major pieces of equipment:
• (2) 69kv incoming line load break disconnect switches
• (2) 69kv bus tie disconnect switches
• (2) 69kv circuit switchers for primary transformer protection
• (2) 69kv-12.5kv, 28mva transformers
• (1) 12.5kv switchgear building with (5) 12.5kv feeder circuits
• Design 12.5kv feeder cable/conduit runs to 1st pole outside of the substation
• Perform grounding study and design ground grid
• Prepare storm water pollution prevention plan (SWPPP) for project

 

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Water Crossing Evaluation

Natural Gas

Scope of Work

• Performed condition assessments of 374 pipeline stream crossings across Indiana and Kentucky
• Utilized Trimble DA2 GPS and Esri Field Maps for sub-centimeter accuracy and real-time GIS tracking
• Evaluated water crossing conditions including erosion, bank stability, and pipeline exposure
• Coordinated land access, scheduling, and communication across a wide geographic area
• Generated Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) and prioritization based on field observations

Deliverables

• Individual field reports with exposure, erosion, and integrity observations
• Risk ranking of 43 sites with noted issues
  • 3 Red: immediate action
  • 7 Orange: remediation recommended
  • 33 Yellow/none: monitoring recommended
• GIS dashboards and shapefiles with embedded condition data
• Sub-centimeter GPS data and photographic documentation per site
• Final report summarizing findings, lessons learned, and remediation recommendations

Project Highlights

• The project achieved 100% completion of 374 field sites within a six-month window and identified 13 new exposures along with multiple erosion and shallow-main risks. Throughout the work, the team maintained real-time communication and tracking through Esri and Trimble platforms, issued 31 CAPs to support immediate and planned remediation, and delivered geospatially enabled datasets and comprehensive documentation to support future asset planning.

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