ENWL – Padiham 132kV

Following a competitive tendering process, OCU Utility Services was awarded the Electricity North West (ENWL) Padiham 132kV Cable Installation contract.

Valued at approximately £6.6m, the work was necessary to undertake because both ENWL and National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET), who are joint owners of the Padiham 132kV substation, identified that the existing facility needed to be replaced by new 132kV switchgear.

Due to the risk of flooding in the vicinity of the substation, a new Gas Insulated Substation (GIS) was required, which also become a joint ENWL/NGET facility.

Scope of Work

The 132kV substation, located near Burnley, is fed from the Padiham 400kV substation via 2 no. 400kV/132kV Super Grid Transformers (SGTs) and is situated approximately 750m away from the 132kV GIS.

The new substation now comprises;

  • 9 feeders
  • 4 spare bays
  • 2 NGET super grid incomers

On completion, the above assets will be owned by a combination of ENWL and NGET.

As principal contractor for all underground cable works, OCU was responsible for project management, site establishment, site management, cable installation and all works outside of the GIS area.

On the ENWL circuit scope, and during the lifecycle of the contract, OCU;

  • Installed ducts and cables.
  • Installed communication ducts, multicores and fibre.
  • Installed telecommunications chambers to accommodate fibre joints.
  • Supplied and installed cable support steelwork at each end.
  • Installed CSE foundations.
  • Supplied and installed cable support fire cladding under the GIS.
  • Installed indoor and outdoor terminations on 1,000mm and 630mm cable.
  • Constructed and jointed double joint bays to connect onto existing assets.
  • Installed scaffolding under the GIS building and around outdoor AIS structures.
  • Installed link boxes and earthing arrangements for all terminations.
  • Provided testing and commissioning.
  • Removed any out of commission assets.

For the NGET circuit scope, OCU supplied all of the services above together with terminations and testing.