Services
Power Infrastructure & Modernization
Power solutions built for growth, resilience, and change
Across North America, power infrastructure is under pressure. Aging equipment is nearing failure. New developments—especially energy-intensive campuses and data centers—are demanding more power than many grids can deliver. At the same time, the rise of renewables and distributed energy is transforming how electricity flows.
Salas O’Brien partners with clients to upgrade and modernize their systems—strengthening reliability, enabling grid interactivity, and supporting long-term resilience. From substation design to distributed energy resources (DER) integration, we deliver solutions that are smart, scalable, and built for what’s next.
Power Infrastructure & Modernization Projects
What we can offer
Salas O’Brien offers a complete array of services, including the development of advanced and often groundbreaking solutions when conventional approaches can’t deliver quality results.
Transmission & distribution systems
Salas O’Brien offers advanced solutions for upgrading existing infrastructure and deploying new technologies. From smart grids and AMI to digital relays and energy storage systems, we help clients optimize their energy distribution networks, improve reliability, and reduce operational costs.
Energy transition planning
Salas O’Brien provides comprehensive energy transition planning services, helping organizations navigate the complex shift to renewable and decentralized energy sources. Our team of experts collaborates with clients to develop strategic roadmaps that address both immediate needs and long-term goals, ensuring a smooth and efficient transition to a modernized grid.
Utility substation design
Salas O’Brien offers utility substation design services for both new/greenfield installations and retrofits of existing brownfield sites. Our team specializes in protection and controls design to promote efficient and reliable operations of the substation.
Utility power system design
Salas O’Brien provides utility power system design services for municipal power distribution systems, including emergency and black/back-up power systems. We also specialize in power plant black start and coping power design for uninterrupted power supply to critical infrastructure in the event of a power outage.
Prefabrication design
Salas O’Brien’s experience working for fabricators, utilities, and facility owners give us unmatched capabilities in leveraging prefabrication practices. Prefabricated equipment assemblies can be tailored to client standards then, rapidly installed, minimizing downtime and disruption. Their modular nature also allows for easy scalability and flexibility, making them ideal for meeting the dynamic needs of an expanding modern grid.
Power system studies
Salas O’Brien provides programmatic power studies to help ensure that your electrical system is safe, reliable, and efficient, while minimizing the risk of downtime and damage. We provide incident energy and arc-flash hazard analyses, short-circuit, and protective device coordination studies. Our engineers collect detailed electrical system data at each site, and use this data to validate existing or to develop new one-line and electrical system floor plan drawings. We perform short circuit, equipment evaluation, arc-flash, and protective device coordination analyses using applicable NFPA, IEEE, and ANSI standards.
Plant power system design
Salas O’Brien specializes in plant power system design, including primary and secondary distribution systems and switchgear. We design efficient and reliable power systems that meet the unique needs of each plant for uninterrupted operations.
Site hardening
Salas O’Brien delivers robust turnkey site hardening solutions, including design for video surveillance, berms, ballistic shields, protective walls, and motion detection systems. These measures safeguard substations and other key assets from physical threats, ensuring the security and continuity of energy supply.
