Medtronic Substations Shutdown

A THANKSGIVING TO REMEMBER
Did your Thanksgiving table have some sort of fancy turkey brined in candied ginger?  Not here!  We had a crew of 48 electricians who gathered ‘round a folding table for some Costco takeout!  Why, you ask?  A Thanksgiving weekend shutdown of four substations.  We know how to throw a party!

For those of you reading this who AREN’T electricians, one of the main roles of a substation is to convert electricity into different voltages.  Clear as mud?  Substations are a BIG DEAL.  Shutting down a substation is an even bigger deal.  But the BIGGEST deal?  - Shutting down FOUR substations at once.    

REVAMPING THE SYSTEM
The work took place at Medtronic’s Rice Creek Campus where our crew of 48 worked around the clock in 12 hour shifts.  They started Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving to do all the demolition.  The goal was to change out the four substations in a 15kv room (a utility room that is 15,000 volts).  That room feeds every substation and the transformers outside.
Work involved replacing all of the gear – including demolition of all the old gear, installing the new, and rewiring the building.  This included removal of ATS’s and installation of new lineups. But why go through all that trouble? Simply put, it was time for a major upgrade. You can compare it to replacing an old fuse box with modern circuit breakers.

A SUCCESS STORY
As mentioned, changing out ONE substation can present challenges.  Multiply that by FOUR.  Hunt was up for the challenge and we nailed it.  The General Foreman, Kavian Sorour, worked on the planning and some pre-installation tasks for a whole year with plenty of help from General Foreman Kevin Colvard.

This project hit home with every one of our core values. The crew of 48 raising their hands to participate - we ARE better together.  Four substations to be changed out in 96 hours?  We found a way AND set the pace.  And honoring our commitments?  Our long-time customer approached us with this challenge over a year ago, and we came through.