Industrial substation commissioning and turnover planning

The commissioning and turnover of an industrial substation from construction through normal operation requires a significant planning effort. This paper is a guide for planning the commissioning of a substation in a safe and timely manner. The guide recommends defining the safe work practices that will be used during commissioning, writing switching procedures for the energization and live tests and adopting a test plan and schedule to assure the equipment is ready to energize prior to the process start-up. The commissioning plan must outline when the equipment transitions through applicable OSHA regulations as the construction stage of the project ends and assure that the appropriate OSHA requirements are included. In addition, this plan uses the commissioning time as an opportunity to kick off training for plant operations and maintenance personnel, establish a records system and record the base line data for future preventative maintenance.