The Ten-Year Substation Replacement Program: A Decade-Long Upgrade in the Making for an Operating Refinery

This article describes our experience over the past 12 years as part of an ongoing program to upgrade and replace process unit substations at a Southern California refinery. The refinery discussed here faced the reality that a large number of its substations were over 50 years old, with obsolete components, making them very difficult and costly to maintain. This case study describes the selection process, implementation, and technical challenges involved in construction and commissioning, including the transfer "cut-over" of individual electrical loads while the process unit was in operation. We also detail the engineering and construction techniques used to minimize disturbance to the process unit, mitigate risk, and maximize electrical and process unit safety.