Omohundro Campus Upgrades

Salas O’Brien was the prime design engineer, providing design and construction administration for a new substation and generation facility at the Omohundro Campus. Efforts included all planning and program phase services during the development of the project scope, as well as obtaining all permits regulating air emission sources. The campus includes the current Omohundro Water Treatment Plant, Omohundro South buildings, and a future wastewater pumping station/equalization basin. Additional treatment facilities and a business complex are planned as long-term site upgrades. The Omohundro Water Treatment Plant, including the George Reyer Pump Station, had two aged substations that needed repairs and upgrades.

Due to upgrades using modern technology and planned site additions, these substations required replacement with a comprehensive power distribution system capable of existing loads and the anticipated load growth from expansion. Therefore, the first phase of design and construction consisted of a new substation and generation facility that provides power to all existing and future facilities, consolidated Electric Utility feeds, and includes a distribution network with redundant looped feeds. We completed design work of a new 69-KV NES service, redundant 20/28 MVA transformers and associated protection and infrastructure, a 23.9-KV GIS, and an intelligent, networked on-site distribution system, and 10 MW of on-site standby generation to serve the entire 138-acre campus. The design of the estimated $45 million upgrade focused on environmentally friendly construction, with an emphasis on hardened construction for resilience, security, and cost-effective use of electrical power.