Switch Station SW A3 Modification

Background
This acquisition is obtaining design-build services for the Switch Station A3’s (SW-A3) 12.47 kilo volt (kV) Switchgear project at the Berkeley Lab. The existing electrical infrastructure that will be replaced was installed in 1988 and is at the end of its service life. SW-A3 12kV cables are showing signs of degradation and the 12kV switchgear parts are becoming obsolete, increasing the probability of unplanned outages that would impact both research focused facilities of Buildings 6, 15 and 80 (B6, B15, B80) and Emergency Services such as the onsite Fire Station and Operations Center currently housing the Lab’s security call center. A significant unplanned outage event could result in downtime to this switch station of 6 to 8 months or longer, depending on the lead time to manufacture replacement equipment. This planned replacement project will help avoid costly and unplanned recovery incidents. The electrical infrastructure is part of the Lab’s site wide electrical distribution system.
There are (7) existing primary/secondary substation transformers and associated switchgear; these will remain in place and are not in the scope of work for this RFI.

Work Details
This project will replace one 15kV medium voltage outdoor metal clad switchgear inside a walk-in enclosure with a new supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) ready medium voltage switchgear with walk-in enclosure to include separation and isolation of busses (M-T-T-M) and provisions with spare breakers for future growth. Additionally, it will replace 12kV cables from SW-A3 to the (7) existing substation transformers and encase the new cables in conduit to reduce the likelihood of damage and increase safety for personnel.
The project goals are to provide suitable replacement of the 12kV gear and make improvements to safety, reliability and align with Laboratories future projects surrounding resiliency and sustainability.
There is to be no expansion beyond the existing footprint of the Switch Station A3’s fence yard.
Reliable temporary power for existing customer need will need to be provided in addition to construction power to minimize disruption to Laboratory Operations.

Place of Performance
The geographic location for this construction project is at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.