Cable Route Surveys

PGL

I am considering getting involved with the above. It primarily relates to electrical cables connecting windfarms to substations.

To date I have been involved in Traffic & Transportation Engineering, so this a new aspect of Civil Engineering for me. Any words of wisdom, tips, advice etc would be most appreciated.

cheers

godtabh

PGL wrote: »

I am considering getting involved with the above. It primarily relates to electrical cables connecting windfarms to substations.

To date I have been involved in Traffic & Transportation Engineering, so this a new aspect of Civil Engineering for me. Any words of wisdom, tips, advice etc would be most appreciated.

cheers

Is it just surveying or design? Any more info?

Turbulent Bill

Is this the checking of potential HV cable routes (via pylons etc.)? I did a little bit of this as a summer job with ESBI, the field surveying seemed to be straightforward enough, though I just did the donkey work.

My hazy memory is that pylon locations were agreed with landowners (after lots of negotiation / compensation), the subsequent route was surveyed to get the elevations, then pylons / conductors were chosen so that minimum heights weren't broken.

PGL

The purpose is to connect windfarms to substations, with distances varying from anything from 500m to 20km. The windfarm and substation locations are fixed, while the type of cable is dictated by electrical engineers and must conform with ESB Specification. The variable is the route of the cable, which must be determined from the cable route survey. Generally routes selected must be in public land, which would mean running the cable along public roads. Constraints would include road crossings, river crossings, bridge crossings etc.

Thats where my knowledge ends at the moment, so as I said in my first post, any words of wisdom, tips, advice etc would be most appreciated!

cheers

dan_d

I'd imagine, depending on the size of the cable that you might have to get an idea of what kind of soil you'd be working in (in terms of how difficult it would be to dig enough to bury the cables, whether you'd hit rock etc). As for public roads, probably need to find out what's already in the ground, particularly drainage-wise, and pin point crossing points. If you're running along a road, you'd have to figure out where you can fit in your cables with other installed services. Also bear in mind the minimum depth you can have and the amount of cover(ESB have regs regarding this), relative to the levels of the ground and installed services.
Rivers etc - I'd imagine again pinpointing crossing points, and what you would be digging through would be important?
Otherwise, I'd say levels and what structures are there....anything with deep basements, piles, etc,etc (throwing stuff off the top of my head here) and objects to be avoided - and how you'd avoid them....
That's my 2 cents! Correct me if I'm way off base!!