DFD is a large-scale (approximately 1 GW) pumping, generation, and transmission facility. Electrical Consultants, Inc. (formerly RAI) upgraded DFD’s Power Plant’s protection, control, and integration systems. ECI provided this engineering design and management of technical services for the California Department of Water Resources (CDWR) in support of the three terminal 230 kV line Universal Power Line Carrier (UPLC) upgrade at Hyatt Power-Plant. Hyatt Power-Plant is tied to Pacific Gas and Electric’s Table Mountain Substation via three 230 kV transmission lines. ECI upgraded three 230 kV lines, busses, and HV cable protective relays at Hyatt Power-plant with the intent of consolidating the auxiliary relay systems into the multi-function microprocessor based protective relays to simplify the protection scheme(s).

ECI provided engineering design of protective relay application, integration system application, single-line, three-line, DC control schematic drawings, and Digital Fault Recorder (DFR) application. ECI engineered the integration settings for the SEL-RTAC (Real-Time Automation Controller) and Human Machine Interface (HMI), as well as calculated the DFR settings. Through our calculations, test plans were developed for the HMI, and SEL-RTAC integration system. ECI then conducted the field testing and commissioning of the HMI, SEL-RTAC, and DFR. We developed the 230 kV protective relay settings and QA/QC the protective relay settings to ensure public safety, reliability, and security before providing them to PG&E for review and approval by PG&E Protection and Control Engineers. Additionally, ECI oversaw the overall setting, testing, and commissioning of the protective system that was conducted by fellow electrical engineers and relay technicians. We managed many aspects of the project schedule to ensure work was completed within budget and planned schedule. We also provided technical instruction to CDWR site electrical engineers, relay technicians, and system operators to provide an understanding of the system limitations and purpose of the newly installed protection and integration system.