Plant Electrical Infrastructure Upgrades with Current Needs, Future Needs, and Resiliency in Mind

u Today's Presenters

u Chris Del Gatto, is a Professional Engineer Licensed in Electrical Power Systems. He is current a Project Electrical Engineer at an A&E consulting firm. Mr. Del Gatto is responsible for preparing complete project designs, keeping current with emerging designs/technologies to maintain a broad knowledge of current technologies, and planning and coordinating detailed aspects of engineering work.

u Charlie Starke, is a Professional Engineer Licensed in Electrical Power Systems. He is currently a Project Lead Electrical Engineer for A&E consulting firm. Mr. Starke is responsible for technical and design leadership, conformity and QA/QC of the department. He develops departmental standards and guidelines. Mr. Starke is responsible for financial performance and managing resources of department.

Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations

Glossary Definitions:

• Base Flood Elevation (aka 100-year Flood Elevation): 1% chance yearly of a flood event occurring affecting structures at this elevation.

• 500-year Flood Elevation: 0.2% chance yearly of a flood event occurring affecting structures at this elevation.

• Design Flood Elevation: The elevation of the highest flood that a design is intended to protect against.

Abbreviations:

• BFE: Base Flood Elevation• BMS: Building Management System• BNR: Biological Nutrient Removal• DFE: Design Flood Elevation• MCC: Motor Control Center• MGD: Million Gallons per Day• MOPO: Maintenance of Plant

Operations• NEC: National Electrical Code• PPE: Personal Protective Equipment• RBC: Rotating Biological Contactor

The Objectiveu Upgrade the Electrical systems

throughout the plant.

The Concernsu Age of equipment.

u Concerns with reliability.

u Equipment inadequate for the use of the space due to process upgrades since 1965 construction.

u Assist the Plant to evaluate, design and implement plant upgrades and enhancements to address these

The Goal

History

u In 1962 Construction began on a Wastewater Treatment Facility that is now known as the Port Chester Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).

u In 1965 The Port Chester WWTP was put into service and serves the Village of Port Chester and the Town of Rye Sewer District. The WWTP was designed for a flow of five million gallons per day (mgd).

History (cont.)

u In the early 1980s the WWTP underwent various process improvements. These improvements included:

u The addition of centrifuges for the sludge handling

u Facility additions

u An increase to its design flow capacity from 5 to 5.5 mgd, with a peak hydraulic capacity of 12.2 mgd.

u The mixing of primary and secondary waste sludge with the sludge from the Blind Brook WWTP

u The addition of centrifuges to the thickened and dewatered process

u The incineration of dewatered sludge on site (however as of this time the Westchester County has ceased operation of its incinerators, and instead hauls the

Ongoing and Future Improvementstss

Rotating Biological Contactor (RBC) Replacement Project

Replace and upsize RBC motors and associated equipment.

Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) upgrade

Approximately 500kW of power consumption

UV Disinfection Facility

Approximate 150kW of power consumption

Field Surveying and Workshopsu To get a comprehensive understanding of

all the existing conditions, we performed numerous site visits.

u While wearing the proper PPE, we surveyed the following:

u Main Switchgear

u MCCs including each individual bucket

u Distribution Panelboards

u Transformers

u All associated conduit and cabling

u Documented all relevant equipment information such as:

u Ratings

u Content

u Circuit Breakers/Fuses

u Wiring type and size

u Pilot devices

Workshop with Plant Staff

u Open discussion to learn about the current and future plant operations

u Duty/Standby equipment

u Equipment that has built in redundancy. The Duty device shall be running, while the Standby device will only run if the Duty device was to stop functioning.

u Obsolete equipment

u Equipment that is no longer critical to plant operation and can be removed.

u F t re eq ipment

Field Survey and Workshop Spreadsheet

Electrical Redundancyu Main-Tie-Main Configuration

u This electrical setup consist of two independent circuits connected together at the load buses by a tie breaker. In this configuration, if one source of power were to fail, the tie breaker can be closed, and the other source of power can be utilized for the entire load.

u Dual Utility Feedersu Coordination with the local utility to

bring a second set of feeders for added redundancy in case of a power failure.

u Backup Generatorsu Parallel Permanent Generators (n + 1)u Portable Generator Connection

Cabinet

Electrical Resiliency Needs

Learning from the Past

u In 2012, Superstorm Sandy hit the Northeast United States very hard

u Estimates have put the total damage caused by the storm at roughly $70 billion

u The storm had a significant effect on just about everyone in close proximity to the east coast of the United States

u Many Wastewater Treatment Facilities were crippled for days, weeks, and in many cases months

u This event forever increased the design engineer’s consideration/awareness towards the potential for and catastrophic results of severe flooding, especially as it relates to critical process infrastructure.

u Sandy did not have a significant impact on the Port Chester Treatment Plant, but another storm or event certainly could.

Example of Sandy Affected Treatment Plant

What Happened?:u Flooding throughout entire siteu Majority of major electrical equipment located below flood

lineu Loss of power throughout siteu Loss of critical process equipment throughout site

Short and Long Term Issues:u Unable to move water through plant for daysu Sewage back-up and leakage in local homes, businesses, and

roadwaysu Millions of gallons per day of untreated or under-treated

sewage u Took approximately two months to return to DEC required

permit levels

Design PivotProblem:

Equipment is currently located in low-lying areas and vulnerable to severe damage in the event of a flood and/or storm surge

Reason For De s i gn Pi vot :

• Cr i t i ca l equ ipment

• Hi gh cost i n ve stment

• Prox imity to body of wate r (Byram Ri ve r [FEMA F loodway])

• Re l i abi l ity - the qua l ity of be i n g t ru stwor thy or of pe r f orming con s i stent ly we l l

• Re si l iency - the capaci ty to re cove r qu i ck ly f rom d i f f i cul ti es; toughness

Scope Adjustmentu Original 3rd party evaluation of

existing electrical and HVAC systems was completed prior to Superstorm Sandy (2011)

u Potential for flood damage was not a major concern, and therefore not included in the scope of the project

u Design meeting held with Owner to express concerns and recommendations

u Decision was made to develop a

Next Steps

u Determine the Base Flood Elevation (BFE)

u Determine the Design Flood Elevation (DFE)

u Identify equipment that falls below the DFE

u Develop a plan to elevate all new equipment above the DFE

u Coordinate with all disciplines to execute the plan

Equipment Elevation Plan Developmentu It was quickly determined that the vast majority of critical electrical

equipment scheduled to be replaced fell below the DFE and required elevation above the DFE to provide the desired resiliency.

u Each piece of equipment required an analysis of feasible methods of elevation

u The following methods of elevation were considered:u Elevated location within existing building

u Local elevated platform

u Steel Structure or Concrete Pad/Pedestal

u Existing upper floor

u Construct new upper floor

u Elevated location within new structure

u Construct new exterior platform

u Steel Structure or Concrete Pad/Pedestal

Example: Elevated Equipment

New Power Houseu The largest undertaking consisted of the addition of a new elevated building

called the Power House.

u The Power House is designed with a finished floor elevation at the DFE, and houses the following critical equipment:

u Utility Transformers on Exterior Elevated Platform

u Main Service Entrance Switchgear

u Emergency Standby Generators

u Emergency Switchgear & Generator Paralleling Gear

u Portable Generator Connection Cabinet

u Critical Process Motor Control Center (MCC)

u Existing Process MCCs from nearby buildings relocated to Power House

u In order to construct the Power House the existing Maintenance Building

Maintenance of Plant Operations (MOPO)u A MOPO plan was developed to ensure that all work is completed in such a

manner that continuous, uninterrupted treatment of the waste flows and all essential Plant services and facilities are maintained operational throughout the construction period.

u The design of the Power House helps to facilitate the MOPO plan

u Provides a new building for the new equipment, feeders, and conduit to be constructed alongside existing equipment

u Operation of the existing equipment maintained until ready for swap over to new

u Allows for controlled shutdowns and minimization of downtime

u Main-Tie-Main (Double Ended) configurations also help facilitate MOPO plan

u Allows for one side to be energized at a time

u Where redundancy exists, half of critical equipment on each side of MCC

ConclusionCurrent Needs

Future Needs

Reliability

Resiliency

Applying Lessons Learned

Maintain Critical Operations

The information presented is a small representation of how modern electrical equipment upgrades take into account: