Earthing Design for a NSW Solar Farm Grid Connection

Overview

C5 was awarded the role of earthing design engineers for the newly developed integrated private and electrical utility owned Zone substation as part of a new solar farm grid connection in Junee NSW.

The Problem

Our client engaged C5 to undertake an earthing design assessment through modelling validation, to assess earthing compliance to the applicable standards and design target parameters for the new Solar Farm Substation and Switching Station combined earthing arrangement. Numerous stakeholders had been engaged for varying portions of the scope and design inputs, which C5 facilitated a resolution that met the stringent earthing design requirements of the electrical network service provider. 

The Solution

C5 was able to offer our expertise in detailed earthing design for the proposed new solar farm which included services such as:

• End to End project management between all stakeholders – consultants, contractors and network service provider
• Detailed analytical assessment of supplied soil resistivity measurements
• Review of surrounding infrastructure for the purposes of transfer voltage assessment
• Derivation of fault current distribution analysis and worst case fault scenario for the purposes of deriving earthing performance and safety criteria 
• Development of CDEGS FCDIST and MALZ models and corresponding results
• Development of Issued for Construction drawings
• Collation of numerous earthing design components within a detailed earthing design report