ECI’s Substation Team provides design services to a wide variety of electric utilities including municipal, cooperative, and investor-owned, as well as independent power producers and large industrial facilities. Projects range from small facility upgrades to major 765 kV switchyards and generation interconnect stations.

Our engineers are experienced in almost every conceivable bus arrangement scheme found in the industry, including radial, ring, modified ring, paired element, main & transfer, breaker and a half and double-bus/double-breaker. ECI is experienced in the application of phase-shifting transformers, EHV series capacitor banks, gas insulated substations, multi-stage back-to-back shunt capacitors and energy storage systems in addition to possessing extensive knowledge and experience in the field of system protection philosophy and SCADA integration.

ECI is experienced in the application of phase-shifting transformers, EHV series capacitor banks, gas insulated substations, multi-stage back-to-back shunt capacitors and energy storage systems in addition to possessing extensive knowledge and experience in the field of system protection philosophy and SCADA integration.

ECI’s Substation Team maintains a high level of technical knowledge, incorporating leading edge concepts and solutions for all facets of substation design while utilizing state-of-the-art technical tools and software such as intelligent 3D CAD design. ECI provides all aspects of substation engineering including physical, electrical, civil, protection, and SCADA integration design, as well as construction management, testing & commissioning, and full EPC construction.

Overhead Transmission Engineering

ECI ranks among the largest U.S. firms specializing in Transmission & Distribution engineering services. ECI provides Transmission & Distribution services for lines with voltages through 765 kV, including new installations, upgrading of existing facilities, reconductoring and line rating. Our wide breadth of experience extends from traditional design of monopole wood, steel or concrete construction, H-frame or lattice towers to innovative tripod or other specialty structure design required to economically address unique circumstances.

ECI’s detailed design capabilities include electrical, conductor, structure, PLS-CADD, foundation, insulator, grounding (lightning) and hardware design. ECI’s expertise includes studies and analysis of critical electrical elements associated with EHV transmission projects such as insulation coordination studies, voltage unbalance (transposition) studies, coupled resonance studies for double circuit lines, conductor studies, corona studies, specialty clearance studies, shield wire segmentation studies, OPGW short circuit rating studies, OPGW voltage analysis for working areas, OPGW repeater site studies, transmission grounding studies, electrostatic (ES) and electromagnetic (EM) studies, EMF field profile studies, and RI/TVI and audible noise studies.

Underground Transmission Design

ECI’s underground transmission line design capabilities include cable system design, duct bank design, grounding/bonding design, splicing/vault design and OH/UG termination design. While a major part of the electrical component of an underground system is the selection of the cable type and accompanying installation methodology, there are myriad of other details that are just as important. These include grounding/bonding methodology, fault duty capacity, relay and fault detection impacts, termination and splicing selection.

ECI utilizes state-of-the-art tools to address these design areas including CYMCAP, PSCAD®, ASPEN™ and CDEGS®, as well as in-house custom software to address such areas as cable pull tension analysis and point loading on OH/UG termination structures. ECI is experienced with all support functions and coordination necessary to execute underground transmission projects such as siting/permitting, right-of-way, surveying, geotechnical surveys, cable supplier selection and coordination, installation/construction techniques, construction oversight and final commissioning.

Distribution Design

ECI ranks among the largest U.S. firms specializing in Transmission & Distribution engineering services. ECI provides Transmission & Distribution services for lines with voltages through 765 kV, including new installations, upgrading of existing facilities, reconductoring and line rating. Our wide breadth of experience extends from traditional design of monopole wood, steel or concrete construction, H-frame or lattice towers to innovative tripod or other specialty structure design required to economically address unique circumstances.

ECI’s detailed design capabilities include electrical, conductor, structure, PLS-CADD, foundation, insulator, grounding (lightning) and hardware design. ECI’s expertise includes studies and analysis of critical electrical elements associated with EHV transmission projects such as insulation coordination studies, voltage unbalance (transposition) studies, coupled resonance studies for double circuit lines, conductor studies, corona studies, specialty clearance studies, shield wire segmentation studies, OPGW short circuit rating studies, OPGW voltage analysis for working areas, OPGW repeater site studies, transmission grounding studies, electrostatic (ES) and electromagnetic (EM) studies, EMF field profile studies, and RI/TVI and audible noise studies.

ECI’s Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) experience includes nearly every conceivable scenario from the utility interconnection through design of the plant to the inverter and battery enclosure. This includes batteries installed in containers, modules or in buildings. BESS projects require close coordination with the battery supplier to manage their often proprietary and unique battery management system, energy management system, power conversion system (inverter) and communications / SCADA requirements.

ECI has coordinated our designs with the industry’s top battery and inverter suppliers including Samsung, Tesla, BYD, XtremePower, CATL, Sumitomo, SMA, Powin Energy, Power Electronics, TMEIC, Energport and General Electric among others. ECI offers a complete solution for BESS projects including engineering analysis & studies, engineering specifications, site civil and foundation design, physical and electrical design, SCADA integration, owner engineer services, procurement & construction, and testing & commissioning.

ECI’s Collection Engineering Team has completed the design of hundreds of projects for wind, solar and BESS facilities, including singular projects from 10 MW up to 1100 MW. Design activities include preparation of complete drawing sets and corresponding studies. Typical studies conducted by ECI for collector design include cable ampacity & losses, grounding, short circuit, grounding bank & arrester evaluation, arc flash, reactive compensation sizing, and steady state load flows.

ECI’s design covers all aspects of the collector system including system connectivity and mapping, power and fiber optic schematics, all pertinent installation details such as trench layout drawings, grounding plans & details, entrance & termination details, and meteorological tower and FAA obstruction lightning details where applicable.

ECI’s Power System Studies Team possesses the subject matter expertise and resources to undertake traditional and specialty power system studies including reactive power studies, transmission load flow studies, transmission generation interconnect studies, temporary overvoltage (TOV) studies, dynamic stability studies, short circuit studies, harmonic analysis, EMF studies, underground cable sizing, substation and collector insulation coordination studies, arc flash studies, construction work plans, long-range plans, distributed generation interconnect studies, load forecast studies, sectionalizing studies, motor starting analysis, and overhead conductor sizing.

ECI’s Power System Studies Team also has the domain expertise to execute specialty studies for EHV transmission lines such as insulation coordination (lightning/TFlash, switching, power frequency), unbalanced voltage (transpositions), breaker transient voltage recovery, coupled line resonance, OPGW fault current analysis, and static wire segmentation.

ECI’s Power System Studies Team is intimately familiar with the requirements for system planning studies for utility and industrial power systems. Our planning philosophy is predicated on evaluating all primary alternatives for service with an emphasis on system efficiency and economic system design. ECI’s power system studies and analysis are completed using state-of-the-art software including PSS®E (Siemens), PSLF™ (General Electric), PowerWorld, ASPEN™, PSCAD®, Synergi®, ETAP®, SKM Dapper®, CDEGS®, and Milsoft®.

ECI provides a comprehensive range of services for system protection. ECI’s experience covers all aspects of system protection from 765 kV transmission to 4 kV distribution and all types of generation. Our Protection Team has developed protection for various static and dynamic VAR devices, transformers, breakers, and busses for straight, double breaker, break and a half, and ring bus configurations.

Transmission line protection experience includes series compensation, line end reactors, double circuit, cables, under-build, short and long line, and multi-terminal applying all of the typical and specialized protection schemes.

Our distribution protection experience includes overcurrent and distance relay protection for looped and radial systems with all forms of bus configurations. Generation protection experience includes hydro, solar, inverter, induction and doubly fed wind, nuclear, coal, combined cycle, BESS, and natural gas applications.

ECI protection engineers have set thousands of relays and have experience with all leading manufacturers including SEL, GE, Siemens and others. Experience includes all technology types including electromechanical, solid state, hybrid digital, and full microprocessor based digital relays.

Projects have ranged from simple standalone relay systems to complicated communication schemes including 87L, POTT, DCB, DCUB, DUTT, hybrids of these as well as various relay topology technologies such as standard wired designs, some of the first SEL Mirrored Bit hub designs and IEC 61850 GOOSE & Sampled Values designs.

From project concept to commissioning, ECI offers automation and integration services for any transmission or distribution application, including station automation, energy management, power quality, communications, and data recording. ECI’s System Integration team is highly specialized in the design, programming, and commissioning of real-time and supervisory control systems. We have optimized and automated switchyards & substations as well as all types of facilities including hydroelectric, wind, solar, storage and fossil power plants.

Our domain experience includes the integration of many bulk power substations, SCADA systems and power plants. ECI has designed control systems using a wide range of technologies including various communication protocols such as SEL logic/mirrored bits, MODBUS, DNP3, OPC UA/DA, ICCP and IEC 61850.

We have experience with many of the leading industrial software products including Ignition, CIMPLICITY, Intellution iFix, Wonderware ArchestrA, OSI Monarch, OSIsoft PI, MatrikonOPC, Kepware, TOP Server, and various PLC logic controls such as Allen Bradley and Emmerson Automation. ECI is extremely proficient in the application of SEL product offerings for complete integration of IEDs in station automation as well as connectivity to traditional SCADA and other utility operations platforms.

ECI has provided communications and network integration designs for generation systems, which frequently include auto-synchronizing, generation ramping controls, integration of regional Special Protection Systems (SPS) / Remedial Action Schemes (RAS), load sharing/most economical dispatch controls, automatic start systems, frequency & voltage control systems.

ECI’s capabilities extend to providing remote monitoring and control of Critical Infrastructure such as power transformer on-line gas monitoring, card-key entry systems, cameras, infrared security detection and even smart systems such as facial recognition.

In all these applications, balancing performance & reliability with security are key considerations in system development. ECI works with project stakeholders to identify operational requirements and determine the best approach for integrating IEDs, RTUs, process controllers, network switches and routers.

Our team is well versed in NERC Critical Infrastructure (CIP) Standards governing facility planning, design and electronic protection including security practices such as firewalls, defense in depth, ESP, Intrusion Detection and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IDS/IPS) as well as encrypted communication and protocols to ensure a secure system.

System Reliability & Compliance reports, in alignment with ECI’s engineering projects, help our clients achieve compliance with their Commercial Operation Date (COD) coinciding with NERC registration. ECI’s System Reliability & Compliance team is comprised of engineering and compliance subject matter experts that work cross-functionally with internal and external disciplines to develop high quality reports.

ECI provides audit support for compliance engagements specific to our projects. ECI provides gap assessments as a proactive approach to compliance by identifying gaps and risk with recommendations for mitigation.

ECI provides guidance and engineering for the development of new communication systems, as well as migration of existing systems to new technology. ECI provides a complete services solution for communication projects including planning, infrastructure, devices, protocols, ISO/RTO requirements, networking and overall system integration & setup.

ECI has an extensive background in communication technologies such as tone, power line carrier, microwave, satellite, radio, and fiber optics supporting system applications such as Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition (SCADA), Automatic Meter Reading (AMR), Trouble Call Analysis (TCA) and Distribution Automation (DA).

ECI’s experienced staff can design communication sites such as regeneration, cellular, microwave or satellite. We have completed numerous regeneration and amplifier site development projects nationwide.

ECI’s experience in outside plant design includes a variety of underground cable projects as well as ADSS and OPGW overhead systems. ECI has installed fiber optic cable systems with responsibilities ranging from routing, permitting, detailed design to construction management.

ECI has designed hundreds of communications systems using various types of architectures, physical mediums, configurations and protocols such as licensed/unlicensed radio, 4G, SM/MM fiber, serial, SONNET, IP LAN/WAN, and MPLS.

ECI serves a wide variety of industrial and manufacturing clients including but not limited to power generation, petrochemical, mining, milling & smelting, pipelines/terminals, pulp & paper, wood products, and water/wastewater treatment facilities.

ECI’s team is adept at applying the latest in software and technology for power systems, automation & control, instrumentation, monitoring, and communications. ECI develops custom solutions that are compliant with applicable codes including those from NEMA, ANSI, IEC, API, OSHA, and NFPA.

Our Industrial Power Team has extensive experience in the design of a wide range of industrial power generation & distribution systems through 69 kV. ECI utilizes the latest in software and technology to design industrial power systems, control systems, instrumentation, plant automation, and communications.

From concept to commissioning our team can perform arc flash, protection coordination, load flow, and other necessary electrical studies, as well as physical and electrical design of power distribution and utility interconnection systems.

ECI’s Surveying Team is comprised of professional licensed surveyors having a wide range of field experience in all types of surveying. ECI incorporates various 3D imagery equipment into our full-service offering including a 360-degree terrestrial laser scanner and survey grade ground penetrating radar.

ECI utilizes this state-of-the-art equipment along with robotic surveying and global positioning system (GPS) to provide the most accurate and dense survey data available. Our surveyors have provided above and below ground scanning and imagery of transmission lines, substations, regulator stations and gas lines.

ECI’s Survey staff experience includes thousands of miles of telecommunication lines, gas and electric T&D facilities, and hundreds of telecommunication sites throughout the U.S.

ECI’s Survey Team provides all aspects of land services for design, right-of-way acquisition, construction staking, and as-built surveying for power, communication, and oil & gas facilities.

ECI’s Environmental Team provides a seamless transition from environmental planning through permitting, right-of-way acquisition, design, and construction. Our Environmental Team understands the intricacies of providing environmental services for a project with sensitive or controversial issues and provide our clients with the highest degree of efficiency and added value. ECI’s experienced environmental planning staff provides a comprehensive scope of environmental services focusing on three areas: Planning, GIS, and Permitting & Compliance.

ECI’s Environmental Planning services includes advising clients on regulatory strategy, acquiring long lead time permits under the National Environmental Policy Act or local equivalents, and developing project designs and descriptions in support of long lead time permits. Our planners have a sole focus to develop power delivery projects for both developers and utilities and have been instrumental in developing dozens routine transmission projects, substations, and long-haul projects across the United States from 34.5 kV AC to 500 kV HVDC.

ECI’s Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Team provides GIS services to aid clients with project scoping analysis, site identifi­cation, permitting & environmental assessment, and detailed engineering design by using the latest ArcGIS technology.

Our Team is adept in combining spatial data from a variety of sources including aerial imagery, CADD, GPS survey ­field data, and existing legacy maps to assist in efficient decision-making through GIS analysis. ECI utilizes an extensive database of existing transmission, distribution, and substation facilities across the U.S. to create intricate mapping resources for use in the siting, planning and permitting of major power delivery facilities.

ECI’s Permitting & Compliance Teams provides permitting services, construction support, and field compliance for the design and construction of utility and developer power delivery facilities. Initial project execution services include acquiring permits necessary to begin construction including stormwater plans, grading permits, building permits, air quality permits and encroachment permits among others.

During construction, ECI provides support by acting as a liaison with local inspectors and officials, managing environmental subcontractors, ensuring inspections are completed, applying mitigation measures when required, and providing plan updates and reports to Authorities Having Jurisdiction.

The focus of ECI’s Right-of-Way (ROW) Team is to provide electric utility and energy clients with a complete range of land services with the added advantage of ECI’s complete design, engineering, construction and commissioning capabilities for construction projects.
ECI’s experience includes easement acquisition for electric transmission & distribution lines and oil & gas pipelines as well as site acquisition for electric substations and oil & gas compressor compression stations.

ECI’s ROW Team is able to support projects with route studies, landowner (title) and existing rights research, right of entry, right-of-way exhibits, easement negotiation and acquisition, construction support and construction damage claim settlement.

To the level needed, ECI can also assist clients with appraisal research and support of the eminent domain process. ECI continues to be at the forefront in the preparation of right-of-way cost analysis, identification of pertinent permitting requirements and the handling of sensitive landowner issues for linear projects.

ECI’s construction management services cover all aspects of procurement and construction. ECI recognizes the critical importance of a carefully planned, efficient and traceable material management plan.

Our procurement capabilities include all phases of material expediting, laydown yard management and maintenance, material receiving and quality assessments, material non-conformance resolution and material checkout management.

ECI’s construction management services include on-site construction management and documentation, construction QA/QC, construction sequencing, scheduling and outage coordination, and site safety compliance and documentation.

ECI’s Construction Management Team uses mobile tablet technology to track procurement and construction progress using online digital forms to dynamically upload information to a cloud-based record platform allowing for dynamic reporting and construction management.

ECI’s Testing Team has been responsible for the management and execution of hundreds of testing and commissioning projects. ECI’s capabilities include apparatus, equipment and cable testing; control building, electrical, panel and AC/DC checkout; protective relay programming and commissioning; SCADA integration, programming and testing; power quality and energy metering testing; and complete functional testing and commissioning.

ECI maintains a state-of-the-art inventory of the latest test equipment to perform every aspect of substation testing such as power factor, transformer sweep frequency, breaker time-travel analysis, and VLF cable testing.

ECI also supports preventive, corrective and emergency maintenance testing programs for clients across the U.S. ECI performs all testing in accordance with the latest International Electrical Testing Association (NETA) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) acceptance and maintenance testing standards, as well as manufacturer and client testing requirements and procedures.