Responsibility of Main Intake Substation

That would depend on who wants to pay for it.

The plant can pay for it, install it, and maintain it.

The plant can pay for it, install it, and contract the maintenance (maybe from the utility).

The plant can pay for it, the utility can install it, and the plant maintain it.

The plant can pay for it, the utility can install and maintain it (for a fee).

The utility can do all three.

The utility can pay for it, contract the installation and turn maintenance over to the plant.

Need I go on?

Ask your AHJ.

Where in the world on the planet are you?

It will matter.

If you have a well negotiated agreement, then you have contacted the state or county or city government people in charge of jobs and infrastructure growth, and they have agreed to pay all or part of all of this.....as part of the agreement these responsibilities would have been worked out to the best advantage of all concerned...Ideally of course, you want to maintain as much control over the situation as is prudent....this would include; are the personnel available, do you have them already working for you, would you have to import personnel from other locations, is the local power company qualified and willing and able to handle all or part of this.....The agreement may include many contingent clauses....In short the best scenario is to be in complete control, but this is usually watered down to, what works best, and is most cost effective....

If you purchase power at 132kV(metering) and substation equipment purchased by you,it is your responsibility. If Substation supplied,installed,maintained by Utility and metering done at 11kV,it is their responsibility.

Typically (but not always) I've seen the AHJ supply the distribution (69 or 115kV) to a CUSTOMER OWNED AND MAINTAINED substation. This would mean ALL THE control housing/switch gear/conductors/circuit breakers is maintained by the company. We just stick a PRIMARY METER at the SUBSTATION TRANSFORMER and collect...

First one needs to know what was written in the original contract when the sub was built. Ownership can be two fold. The incoming side can be the responsibily of the Utility company supplying power to the plant.

The out going side of the same switchgear, transformer can be owned by the Plant. i.e. 132kV in, is owned and maintained by the Utility Co, out going of the transformer, 11kV side can be the Plant.

So maintanence is done by each owner operator. However, the hassle occurs when a fault happens and the breaker trips. Who caused the fault, who goes out to fix it and who is resonsible for the revenue losses and down time?

I had this issue and the solution was to sell the problematic breaker for 1 Dollar to get rid of the problem of who owned what, who fixes the fault and lost revenue.

In the UK several people own parts of a sub station and each is responsible for the maintenance of their specific items(s). There is a line, and one only fixes to that line, then it is another persons responibility, unitil it finally connects to the Nat Grid, then they look after there side only.

If the systems is indeed Public Works, the whole system, then they are responsible up until the connection crosses the fence line and into the Company breaker. Do check the contracts if you have them. It is all to do with costs, savings, profits, risk mitigation and covering ones arse. And of course, making money.

Typically cost and reliabiliy will drive this decision.

If you take ownership of the switchgear and transformers, you will, of course, have to maintain the gear at your expense. You will also most likley be required to have a qualified high-voltage electrician on staff and perhaps even a professional electrical engineer on staff as well - even if you sub contract out all of your maintenance and up keep.

In return for this, you will get the primary rate on your electricy purchases.

At some level of MW consumption, you will have a break even point. What the level of consumption is will depend on your cost for power and what the local UHJ requires in the way of qualified personnel you have to maintain on staff that .

Another reason why you might want to become a primary customer, even if your costs to do so are higher, is reliability/control. Granted, you are at the mercy of the reliabilty of the incoming power feed(s), but if you live in an area that is notorious for unplanned outages due to poor maintenance of switchgear, etc, you might want to take on this additional burden to improve your facilities overall reliabilty - put most of your fate in your own hands.

Looks like you were submitting your answer as I was typing mine. Great minds think alike!

Your question appears to reference a facility which has not yet been constructed. In that situation, the answer will depend partly on whether the substation is exclusive to the industrial plant. If the substation is used by the Power Authority for other purposes (e.g., through transmission on the 132KV side or supplying 11KV distribution load to other customers) the PA will own & operate the equipment required for those functions, and possibly the distribution-side equipment to supply the plant.

If the substation is exclusive to the industrial plant the decision rests mainly with the preferred business model of the plant owners/operators.

Pros for the plant owning & maintaining the substation:

• Service is at transmission voltage (132KV) which usually has a better per-unit cost for energy.
• Faster response for substation problems since the plant will have electrical maintenance personnel on-site.

Cons for owning/maintaining the substation:

• Significant capital cost of maintaining spare parts for reliable operation of the substation. Our parts inventory for a substation usually runs 2-3% of the purchase price of the the station equipment. Breaker contacts and breaker or transformer bushings in particular are usually not kept in stock by a distributor or manufacturer. They are manufactured at the time of the order and delivery time can be several months. Our parts inventory is typically worth 2-3% of the purchase price of the station equipment. That's capital sitting on a shelf that can't be used for other business purposes.
• Cost of hiring and training technicians to operate and maintain a high voltage substations. If the plant will have electricians who operate and maintain medium voltage switchgear, those personnel can be trained to do the same for high voltage equipment. Control & computer types have no clue of the safety requirements and unforgivable nature of electricity.

As for who supplies it, the plant will pay for it either directly or indirectly. If the PA builds it, the capital cost will be included in the electric bill either as a demand charge or a separate surcharge to defray the cost. Even if the customer builds the station, the PA will have final authority over much of the design in order to protect their grid.

Comprehensive answer, Would like to look at it from satety point of view

Don't you think that PA is in a better position to operate and maintain 132KV Switchgerar and Transformers since PA aleardy have fully equipped Control Rooms to control 132KV Network including the plant substation infeeds?

I agree that in many cases the PA will be a better choice. That being said, I've worked with heavy manufacturing facilities like steel mills and paper mills which managed their own plant substations and even generation admirably. ALCOA, for example, owns and operates nearly 3 GW of generation, along with integrated transmission.