TAQA DISTRIBUTION - ALKHAZNA substation 33 KV - 11 KV

About this project

The Al Khazna grid station distributes at 33 kV and 11 kV through an upper and a lower ring. Almafor upgraded the substation control and monitoring system across both rings as main contractor under contract A-14239.1.

Scope covered new bay control units, the SCMS panels that house them, and an inverter panel to carry the control supply. The station was integrated with both the Distribution Management System and the Load Dispatch Centre, and a legacy ICCP link that was no longer required was removed as part of the changeover rather than left in place for somebody else to inherit.

The decision that shaped the project was to retain the hardwired interlocking through the upgrade. Moving interlocking into the new system and stripping the wiring would have been simpler, and it would have meant that during every hour of the cutover the station's safety depended on the equipment being installed. Keeping the hardwired layer live meant the work could proceed on a station that could not be taken out of service, and it means the interlocking still functions if the supervisory layer is ever down for patching or replacement.

That pattern runs through most of our substation work. The engineering is rarely the difficult part. Sequencing it around a station that has to keep meeting its duty is.