Building 1429 Switchgear & Electrical Feeder Repairs

Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Milton, FL

Project Cost: $3,495,162.77

Completion: December 2016

Contract Method: Firm Fixed

The project at NAS Whiting Field was a design/build underground medium voltage distribution project that included new manholes, duct banks, switchgear, sectionalizing cabinets, 15kv cables, terminations and extensive coordination with the owner for scheduling outages.  The distribution voltage at Whiting Field is 5KV however, all new switchgear, cable, substation, and components were rated 15KV, anticipating a future system upgrade to that voltage. Whiting Field is one of the busiest airfields in the United States with continual pilot training activities. The project involved a complete replacement of the incoming electrical service from the utility including:

• Replacement of the existing wood structure incoming substation with a new steel substation structure and 15kv circuit breakers.
• Replacement of the existing underground 5kv main service cables from the new substation structure to a new 5kv Weatherproof switchgear house and lineup. The new underground 5kv service included 3000’ of new 8 way 6” concrete encased duct bank, 15kv rated feeder cables, manholes, sectionalizing cabinets and bore casing under active Taxiway Zulu.
• A new Stainless Steel weatherproof, environmentally conditioned house containing a new switchgear lineup to feed the base feeder circuits was provided. The switchgear assembly included new SEL advanced relaying providing additional Arc Flash protection. Electric metering with integration to the existing base metering system was provided.
• The existing overhead distribution system was re-configured to allow circuit switching and back feeding that did not previously exist.