Home/Capabilities/Refurbishment & Life Extension
03 — Capability
Refurbishment & Life Extension
New transformers and switchgear carry long lead times and high prices. A large share of aging assets are still structurally sound and can be restored, upgraded and returned to service in a fraction of the time, at materially lower cost.
Scope
What we refurbish and retrofit.
| Equipment | Refurbishment scope |
|---|---|
| Power & distribution transformers | Inspection, DGA and oil analysis, oil reclamation and processing, gasket and bushing replacement, tap changer overhaul, core and winding repair or rewind, repaint, full electrical test. |
| Circuit breakers | Mechanism and contact overhaul, retrofill and retrofit kits, vacuum interrupter replacement, timing and contact-resistance testing. |
| Switchgear & MCCs | Cleaning, re-torquing, component replacement, remanufacture of cubicles, protection and control upgrades. |
| Protection & control | Replacement of legacy electromechanical relays with modern digital relays, panel retrofit, SCADA and communications upgrades. |
| Motors & generators | Rewinding, bearing and rotor refurbishment, dynamic balancing, re-testing to standard. |
| GIS & AIS station equipment | Life-extension programmes, SF6 gas handling and recovery, component replacement, condition assessment. |
Method
How the cost comes down without the quality going with it.
- Hybrid delivery — US partner repair shops and field crews working with a lower-cost global refurbishment and engineering base
- Standardised process — documented procedures and refurbishment kits that cut rework and turnaround time
- OEM-grade parts — spares and equivalents sourced through the same manufacturer network as our new-equipment supply
- Spare-part pooling — a swap unit goes in while your asset is in the shop, so the outage is not the repair duration
- Independent verification — NETA-aligned acceptance testing and third-party certification on every unit returned
What the owner gets
Cost. Materially below replacement, with the saving varying by equipment type, condition and scope.
Schedule. Return to service in weeks or months rather than the year-plus typical of new-build equipment in constrained categories.
Capital deferral. Asset life extended by years, moving the replacement out of the current rate case.
Reliability. Modern protection and condition monitoring added during the outage you were taking anyway.
Warranty. Written warranty on the refurbishment work performed.
Compliance
The regulatory load is the barrier — and the moat.
Refurbishment touches EPA rules on PCB-containing oil and waste handling, environmental and safety permitting, IEEE and ANSI test standards, and each utility’s own acceptance criteria. Getting that right is expensive and slow, which is precisely why it is defensible once built.
Related
Often bought alongside this.
01
Global Sourcing & Procurement
Direct relationships with manufacturers in Asia, Europe and the Americas — benchmarked on total landed cost, not the ex-works number.
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Distribution Solutions
Distribution is the largest and most continuous line in a utility capital plan. We cover it end to end — stock, design, build and storm response.
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Engineering Services
Conceptual through detailed design for substations and lines, with licensed US Professional Engineers signing off the deliverables.
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