Bath was selected conduct an Electrical Vulnerability Assessment of the electrical distribution system for UT – Southwestern Medical Center. The UT Southwestern Medical Center is one of the world’s top academic medical centers, treating more than 60 subspecialties. The Dallas Texas campus is over 75 years old and is powered by a 138kV main substation, located along Inwood road. The main substation provides 13.8 kV service to the campus buildings. This 138kV main substation is double ended consisting of two 42/56/70 MVA substation class transformers with two incoming lines. The 138kV source is provided by the local electrical utility, Oncor and is backed up by a total of 19.3 megaWatt of onsite generation provided by an array of diesel 13.8kV generators.

Bath Group Inc. assessed the vulnerability of this electrical distribution system from the main supply down to the 480 VAC utilization voltages. The Electrical Vulnerability Assessment consisted of reviewing the electrical utility records of line outages, site investigation, interviews of the operations personnel, review of the maintenance records and downloading the power relay settings as well as the event history of each relay. With the data gathered, the staff at Bath Group verified the existing SKM model against the data gather from relay downloads and the system one-lines. The Bath Group staff then evaluated the existing SKM model of the campus for electrical system protection and coordination. With the verified SKM model combined with the data gathered onsite the Bath Group Staff assessed the system capacity to serve the current campus peak load and the electrical distribution system’s ability to recover from power system events. The campus SCADA system was also assessed for eficiencies. A report containing the uncovered vulnerabilities as well as recommended resolutions for the issues discovered was provided to the client during an onsite meeting with UTSWMC staff as well as a hard copy of the report. Consideration was given for future growth and recommendations made for the Master Planning and expansion of the electrical distribution for the next 30 years for the overall campus.