Every day, every one of us turns on power—in our house for lights, in our cars to get the engine revving and on our remote controls to fire up the television. Power comes to us with little thought about what goes into making it happen.

This year, a grand-scale project had its power turned on. Balfour Beatty, as part of LINXS Constructors, and in collaboration with Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), flipped the switch to electrify the Automated People Mover (APM) at Los Angeles International (LAX) Airport.

Completed in several phases, Balfour Beatty successfully installed three substations, which involved pre-testing and energizing eight sets of 12.4kV alternating current (AC) to 750-volt direct current (DC) breakers and rectifiers in one substation that feeds power to the permanent maintenance and storage facility test tracks.

The final phase included the same operation—but for two substations each with two rectifier transformers and four DC breakers which powers the APM’s 2.25-mile guideway, for its APM vehicles that travel around its tracks, and six APM stations.

The company’s Total Power Group (TPG), which is comprised of dedicated traction electrification experts, successfully led these phases. As a result of their skilled engineering and building, laser-like focus on quality control and teamwork at its finest, the team provided a seamless electrification solution for the project. This milestone represents a significant step forward in revolutionizing the way in which passengers will travel to and from one of the busiest airports in the world.

Prepping For Power

To provide power to the APM system, including its vehicles, AC electricity must be converted into DC electricity for the track. To do this, the substations require switchgears, converters, rectifiers and transformers built and tested to ensure all systems meets Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards.

In addition, the equipment is inspected by Underwriters Laboratory (UL) to ensure it is configured to safely feed the equipment utility power.

Based in Goldsboro, North Carolina, TPG provides the design, manufacture and testing of the substations’ components. General contractors typically outsource the supply, manufacture and testing of electrical equipment, but Balfour Beatty offers this service in-house. This allows our clients and partners to be involved in the quality assurance process and experience factory testing remotely.

The two-to-three-day operation involves leveraging sophisticated video equipment which provides clear visual images and full walkaround views during the testing procedure. This not only gives clients confidence in the electrical equipment they will receive but also provides video demonstrations for training once the equipment is installed.

“The goal is to have everyone involved comfortable with the equipment before it even arrives on the site,” says TPG General Manager Kevin Miller.

Powering It On

Once the equipment has been tested, TPG works with experienced suppliers to transport the equipment cross country to LAX’s APM project. The valuable cargo is protected against the weather and robust enough to protect the equipment from potential rough road conditions to minimize any damage no matter how far the equipment travels.

Following installation, TPG inspects and tests the systems on-site by first prepping and pre-testing the equipment. When the equipment is approved, officially turning on the substations is a special moment shared with the oversight of LINXS joint venture and LAWA.

“The energization operations went incredibly well and is a testament to the quality of workmanship, factory acceptance testing and attention to detail our team is delivering to the project,” says Rail Technical Director Roger Wilson.

“This major milestone was achieved because of the relentless efforts of our designers, engineers, administrative, accounting and various other teammates behind the scenes,” says TPG Project Manager Joe Parker. “Everyone worked collaboratively to deliver this operation on schedule and achieve our client’s energization goals.” 

And TPG work isn’t quite over yet. With the three substations successfully installed and powering the project, the project team conducts formal training for the client to maintain and operate the equipment as well as provide and ship any spare sparts necessary to continue the equipment’s proper functioning for years to come.

Balfour Beatty’s work in reaching this monumental milestone is a prime example of the company’s commitment to operational excellence and technical expertise in providing customized power and energy system solutions. Deploying efficient electrification operations is no small feat but with the help of our skilled experts, clients across the nation can count on TPG to power progress on any project.

To learn more about TPG’s services and capabilities, visit tpgexperts.com.