Pembroke Creek Substation

Project Summary

AZCO fabricated and installed 282 helical pile foundations as part of an engineer-procure-construct (EPC) turnkey services project with Burns & McDonnell.

The project consisted of a three-position ring bus that provides the interconnection point for a developer solar farm including two line positions, three 230-kV breakers, eight switches and multiple high-voltage metering devices. The initiative brings more renewable energy online within the Dominion Energy system.

We prefabricated and installed the helical pile foundations (piles with top plates designated for structure, component and equipment support) as well as helical pile anchors (design support of concrete pads for circuit breakers).

Working with Burns & McDonnell designers and geotechnical specialists as one team expedited the design and construction process and the preparation of the challenging site. The soils in the area are soft and sandy, with a high water table, creating many challenges for typical concrete foundations. Prefabricating piles that are extremely well-suited for the poor soil conditions provided a solution that saved nearly a month of installation time.

Working with a single-team solution to produce and coordinate designs in days rather than weeks and expediting the steel fabrication to deliver the piles early meant our team was able to successfully work within a compressed schedule for an effective turnkey solution for Dominion Energy.