Indianapolis, IN

Hanna Avenue Substation Upgrade

Client: AES Indiana
Our Role: Electrical and Structural Engineering for Substation Physical, Protection and Control, and Transmission Line Design

Electrical substation with steel structures, power lines under a cloudy sky.

AES Indiana undertook a major upgrade of its Hanna Avenue substation to enable the facility to accommodate new sources of power. The utility needed to provide adequate system voltage after the retirement of a coal-burning power generation station and before the startup of a new combined cycle gas turbine plant.

The utility wanted to increase its ability to import power from the 345 kV transmission system to help maintain voltage stability and avoid outages. It also wanted to prevent the loss of a transformer at the substation in the case of an outage to one of the incoming 345 kV lines.

GFT delivered electrical engineering services to modernize the substation and enhance system reliability, beginning with the installation of new circuit breakers and disconnect switches to strengthen fault protection.

The team replaced existing breakers and arranged the substation into a breaker-and-a-half configuration, which allows either of the two main buses or any of the breakers to be removed without interrupting service to any circuit. The upgrade also included replacing an existing autotransformer with a larger unit and installing additional transmission lines and a new control house containing protection and control systems.

Key Features

Upgraded substation configuration to support service reliability.
Installation of new 345 kV circuit breakers and disconnect switches.
Breaker-and-a-half configuration allowing equipment removal without interrupting service.
Replacement of an existing autotransformer with a higher-capacity unit.
Construction of a new control house containing protection and control systems.