Gain in power and energy efficiency
With 4,200 employees, the Crolles plant is one of the largest production sites of STMicroelectronics, one of the world leaders in the manufacture of integrated circuits. The flagship of the group, the production unit in the Grenoble region has entrusted Cap Ingelec with a project management mission for the construction of its own 225 kV / 20 kV HV substation. This operation was part of the reorganization and renovation of its electrical networks in order to gain in power and energy efficiency. It demonstrates the know-how of Cap Ingelec in the domain of Critical Infrastructures, a competence that few engineering companies master today.
The Crolles factory of the STMicroelectronics group, equipped with 10 HV delivery stations, had an impact on the local HV public electricity distribution network. Cap Ingelec was therefore asked to build a private 225 kV/ 20 kV substation of 1 x 85 MVA which could be upgraded to 3 x 85 MVA. This new infrastructure now allows them to rapidly go into production in a market of micro-processors which requires agility. Cap Ingelec’s strength was to provide a technical response to the energy problem exposed, but also to propose a technically and economically coherent solution in a very restrictive environment. The search for performance in an environment with extreme constraints and moreover on a site classified Seveso level HIGH. The main constraints were to work in an occupied site by managing the co-activity and continuity of service of the site, whilst respecting the very restricted project schedule, a usual context for Cap Ingelec.
The search for performance in an environment of extreme constraints
To illustrate these constraints, it was absolutely necessary to conceive a project with phasing of works, qualifications and commissioning without harming the activity of a site where the slightest micro-disconnection of electricity generates long delays for re-commissioning and prohibitive costs. Cap Ingelec committed to record deadlines. The site was delivered in 12 months, whereas one and a half years are normally required for this type of project, knowing moreover that the supply of the 85 MVA transformer alone requires ten months of manufacturing. If you add to this the installation of twenty or so 15 m to 25 m deep piles to respond to the seismic constraints in a mountainous zone, or the design of a building allowing the segregation of redundant sub-systems to guarantee the safety of the operation of the plant in the event of a disaster, one can better measure the performance of Cap Ingelec. With, as a bonus, a mission carried out without any hazards with scrupulous respect for the announced budget!
