Underground Distribution
As the power industry transforms, the need for large-scale investment in underground distribution infrastructure has intensified. We help you focus your underground distribution strategy, pursuing innovative approaches that address the unique challenges of designing and building underground infrastructure. We integrate seamlessly with your team to evaluate options, prioritize initiatives, and implement efficient and effective projects and programs.
Why Underground Distribution Is More Important Than Ever
Significant projected load growth in dense urban settings — combined with increasingly distributed generation, evolving environmental regulations, and tightening reliability and resiliency requirements — is putting a premium on underground assets. Beyond delivering aesthetic appeal, this approach offers advantages ranging from storm hardening to shared right-of-way access.
How We Deliver Underground Distribution
We design and build the critical distribution systems and components that establish a safe and reliable grid. Among our services:
- Ductbank and manhole installation. We provide integrated engineering and project management for tailored subsurface conduit and cable routing, whether prefabricated or built in place.
- Cable replacements. Our team takes a proactive approach to renewal programs to avoid prolonged and costly outages. We address all aspects, including outage data analysis and prioritization, manhole inspections, cable and conduit sizing, pulling calculations, splicing diagrams, outage planning, temporary facility design, and work order creation.
- Secondary network upgrades. We help identify and assess these networks of critical assets, then develop data-driven, fact-based analyses to support your planning and investment decisions. When it’s time to move forward with those improvements, we provide engineering, construction and program management services to make them a reality.
- Renewable collector system design. Our in-house routing, planning and design teams optimize medium-voltage cable sizing and routing while balancing reliability, reactive compensation needs and system requirements. We go beyond traditional power system analysis and design.
- Electric vehicle (EV) distribution infrastructure. We help plan, design and build EV charging infrastructure, including evaluating location, predicted energy use and energy cost, vehicle-to-grid integration, communication network design, budget planning, and transportation and route planning.
- Trenchless installation. Horizontal directional drilling and jack-and-bore trenchless installation help you address landscape and infrastructure preservation requirements, reducing environmental impacts, restoration costs and schedule effects.
- BESS interconnection design. Our experience with battery energy storage systems (BESS) helps you enhance system reliability to meet modern distribution infrastructure needs. We assist with technology selection, system modeling, detailed design, owner’s engineering, permitting, procurement and full engineer-procure-construct (EPC) solutions.
- Overhead to underground conversion. As more communities call for electric facilities to be installed underground, we can help you assess feasibility and identify challenges for each project site. Our team conducts field inspections, acquires real estate and permits, engages in customer outreach, sizes cable and conduit, creates construction drawings, and estimates materials and labor.
- Facility relocations. When public infrastructure projects require relocation or adjustment of infrastructure in the public right-of-way, we can assist with streamlined solutions based on communication and a precise schedule. Our in-house team includes experienced professionals who address transportation, water, natural gas, telecommunications, public involvement and permitting challenges.
We work with municipal utilities, co-ops, investor-owned utilities and developers to manage systemwide programs under a defined process, integrating us with your team. Our experience ranges from large and complex programs across multiple sites and multiple states to localized replacement of key underground assets.
