Silicon Valley Power

The location for the new substation posed a number of logistical challenges. It needed to potentially serve up to 20% of the utility’s power load—while fitting into a tightly confined, non-standard piece of real estate. To ensure safety, the substation had to maintain minimum clearances from the edge of the property as well as minimum clearances between equipment within the property. It also had to fit within California’s stringent landscaping and environmental regulations.

Eaton has a strong reputation in the utility marketplace because of the quality of its switchgear, manufacturing processes and understanding of the needs of utilities, including the design and operating practices that drive substation reliability. They applied those learning in conjunction with industry-leading construction and expertise to create switchgear that’s incredibly reliable.

Technical product expertise combined with extensive knowledge of construction methods allowed the Eaton team to design switchgear that’s incredibly solid—while saving labor and construction costs across the project. A unique bussing arrangement that accommodates Silicon Valley Power’s spacing and redundancy requirements. An arc flash system that monitors cable and bus faults inside the switchgear. A vertically stacked battery rack design to meet exceedingly tight space requirements, maximize worker safety and significantly reduce construction costs. And VCP-W medium voltage vacuum circuit breakers that saved approximately $60,000 while improving quality and performance.

With Eaton, Silicon Valley Power has the assurance that their multi-million dollar substation investment will endure well beyond today. And they’ll continue to be the power behind the powerful thinking Silicon Valley is famous for.