Emergency power supply during a refinery turnaround

One Midwestern refinery needed to perform a replacement of their existing 480V motor control center (MCC), however this would require two days of downtime for the refinery and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars lost in revenue. They knew they would need critical loads to remain online without interruption while replacing the switchgear, but they weren’t exactly sure how to make that happen. Additionally, tight worksite space limited the number of generator sets requiring a balance against competing objectives.

Our electrical experts conducted site walks to better understand the space restrictions and quickly designed a solution to fit the exact project specifications. Over the course of just 14 days, from the initial project discussion to startup, we mobilized two temporary generators and the necessary switchgear to keep the processing unit running during the turnaround phase. Our onsite technicians provided additional workforce to ensure the transition was executed perfectly, resulting in zero downtime for the customer.

Without having to provide a generator for each load, our team reduced the equipment footprint, which also helped to decrease the customer’s rental cost and even helped to reduce emissions. An added cost savings feature was that our team also provided all the necessary electrical documentation, which is usually outsourced to a third party engineering firm.