Utility

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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138kv Substation Modification To Accommodate New Generation Tie Line

Substation Engineering

Overview

• Location: Indiana
• Client: Midwest investor-owned utility
• Timeline: 12 Months

Scope

• Design expansion of existing substation yard to the west
• Design expansion of existing 138kv ring bus to the west. add new 138kv breaker position
• Design new 138kv h-frame structure to accommodate the new incoming 138kv line
• Design transmission line interconnection from first pole outside of the substation to the new h-frame
• Perform grounding study and design grounding improvements for the substation
• Design new control building to house new relay and metering panels
• Design fiber interconnection with existing communications system

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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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345kV Ring Bus Substation

Substation Engineering

Scope of Work

• Completed design for greenfield 345kV substation with six-position ring bus configuration
• Controlled building layout including wall elevations, vendor coordination, and drawing review

Deliverables

• Fully engineered design and construction package including civil structural, physical, and protection and control
• Transmission line loading
• Studies – ground grid, lighting, and lightning
• Review vendor drawings for equipment
• Construction support
• Incorporate as-built drawings post-construction

Project Highlights

• Orbital Engineering completed the full greenfield design, coordinating with client engineers for foundation placement and sizing, communication interfaces, and security, and guided equipment vendors to ensure all equipment integrated into the design for proper performance and compliance with governing codes and standards.

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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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Programmatic Construction Oversight

Construction Management

Overview

• Location: Indiana
• Client: Midwest investor-owned utility
• Timeline: Annual program

Scope

• Safety and Environmental:
  • Enact Stop Work Authority and hold all site personnel accountable for Owner’s System Safety Process.
  • Participate in the development of and enforce daily site JSA’s (Job Safety Analysis).
  • Report on safety and environmental incidents via the Owner standard process.
  • Ensure adherence to site specific safety plans and environmental compliance plans.
  • Track permitting to be sure appropriate permits are in place and time frames are observed.
• Planning and Schedule Monitoring:
  • Support pre-construction efforts to ensure projects are completed safely, efficiently, and economically.
  • Review drawings and BOM’s prior to start of construction to avoid delays associated with material / personnel.
  • Report on status of scheduled activities (behind, ahead, percent complete, anticipated complete date, etc.)
  • Participate in development of schedule recovery plans when necessary.
• Quality Assurance:
  • Ensure that projects are constructed according to engineering drawings and applicable specifications.
  • Develop and submit RFI’s and NCR’s (Non-Conformance Reports).
  • Vendor, Sub-Contractor and Supplier Interface.
  • Coordinate deliveries and returns of construction material and equipment.
  • Keep inventory of materials and identify field material needs in an effort to avoid project delays.
  • Support coordination of subcontractor assignments.
• Record Keeping:
  • Ensure all redlines, photos, and equipment data (model, serial numbers, etc.) are organized for turnover at project completion.

Orbital’s Construction Management Teams have managed projects of all types, such as:

• New build substations (Hinshaw Interconnect Substation)
• New build overhead transmission and distribution
• Switchgear and transformer replacement
• Pole, structure, and overhead conductor replacement (Trans. Monopole Exchange)
• Underground cable replacement
• New fiber installations and fiber replacement
• Communications tower erection

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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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Main Street Public Improvement Project

Natural Gas

Overview

• Location: Indiana
• Client: Midwest investor-owned utility
• Timeline: 4 Months

Scope

• Managed gas main conflicts associated with a 32-inch full pavement section, including HMA pavement, stone base, and chemically modified subgrade
• Addressed three key conflict areas, verified with Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) data:
  • Potential conflict with full pavement section depth
  • Direct conflict due to subgrade treatment and grade cut
  • Conflict with proposed storm pipe based on SUE data
• Turnkey project execution including:
  • Minimum three site visits
  • Packet creation and system documentation
  • Coordination with the utility coordinator for additional data
  • Comprehensive deliverables: IFC documents, bill of materials, tie-in procedure, trenchless technology form, pressure test forms, permits/easements, service orders, constructability review, corrosion recommendation, environmental compliance plan, and safety checklist

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