PROJECT

Gentry Substation

Our team assisted Liberty Utilities in boosting grid reliability in its southernmost service territory, providing engineer-procure-construct (EPC) services for a 3-acre, 161/12-kV greenfield substation, 6.5 miles of three overhead distribution feeder lines and a transmission tap structure.

The project supported load growth in the city of Gentry and provided capacity to power 2,000 homes, as well as reduced the load on the Decatur Substation by providing a dedicated feed to a large industrial customer and adding circuits for redundancy and operational flexibility.

Engineering challenges included double- and triple-circuit structures and use of nonstandard 795 AAC conductor to serve the large industrial customer. Self-supporting steel poles were also necessary because of right-of-way and guying constraints. We conducted a lidar survey and geotechnical borings throughout the project footprint, allowing the entire distribution line to be modeled in PLS-CADD. This helped facilitate the design of custom-ordered direct embed steel poles, self-supporting steel poles and drilled shaft foundations.

 

Client

Liberty Utilities

Location

Gentry, Arkansas

Region

Southeast

Services

Electrical Transmission & Distribution

Substations

Industry

Power

We used the PLS-CADD model and land survey data to model scenarios that would allow Liberty to obtain appropriately sized easements and minimize effects on property owners, supporting easement discussions.

Through a combination of Liberty’s distribution construction standards and custom-developed framing standards for the structures, we compiled a bill of materials and procured all the poles, conductor, switches and hardware.

Our team obtained multiple Arkansas Department of Transportation highway crossing permits and two railroad crossing permits. We also completed environmental permitting and managed preventative stormwater, erosion and settlement measures during construction.

With 30,000 construction hours worked, the project was completed on time to serve the peak winter load in the city and the surrounding area, with zero recordable safety incidents.