Renovation of an educational facility in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Completed plans call for the renovation of a educational facility.

The existing Como Switch Station, located on the northeast corner of 29th Avenue SE and Weeks Ave in the University Como area, was originally constructed in 1967 to serve as a means of splitting a single Xcel Energy 13.8kV overhead line into the two (2) underground 13.8kV feeders to serve the University owned buildings. The two feeders are identified as CO-1 and CO-2. In 1990, a second Xcel 13.8 kV overhead line was added to the switch station and the existing switches in the station were modified to accept the additional service feeder. These systems are at the end of their useful life and require replacement. Deadline for RFP Questions:June 13, 2023 at Noon. The University reserves the right to Cancel the RFx at any time,Modify or eliminate the interview process,Reject any and all Responses in whole or in part,Waive any irregularities or inconsistencies in Responses. The project expectation is that the new switch station will be built in the same general area as the existing station and will be composed of outdoor padmount equipment to allow the new switch station to be constructed while the existing station remains in operation. It also avoids construction of a new, costly building needed for indoor equipment. A conceptual one-line diagram has been developed internally by university staff as proof of concept and should be considered the starting point for the design (See Attachment B for proposed one line). It will be the responsibility of the design team to vet out the concept for any issues and concerns that may have been overlooked. The 13.8 kV padmounted switchgear will utilize a dead-front, solid-dielectric insulated design and the capacitor banks will utilize dead-front (preferred) or live front, air insulated equipment. The green space surrounding the existing switch station will be used for the new equipment and will most likely require one of the Xcel dead-end structures to be relocated by Xcel to make space for the equipment. The switchgear will be placed on oversized equipment pads designed for ease of snow shoveling. In addition, the equipment yard will require a six to eight foot tall (non-masonry) screening. The existing masonry building will be preserved and rehabbed to accommodate the electronics required for the project that need a conditioned space, and the cable basement will be used to cut over the old station to the new one. The missing masonry wall will need to be infilled once the old 13.8 kV equipment is removed. Var flow in and out of the station will be partially controlled by padmount capacitor banks on each of the UMN feeders. In addition, the design team will need to study the impacts of installing a large solar PV array in the Como Area as a part of the Offsite Collections Facility (OCF) project. The switch station will most likely need a control loop with PV array to manage Var flow at the "point of delivery" with Xcel Energy. Instrumentation and devices at the switch station will monitor both real and reactive power flow and generate a feedback control loop to the PV array inverters to prevent undesirable power flow issues and reactive voltage regulation concerns. An underground fiber optic path for this control circuit will need to be installed between the switch station and the Offsite Collections Building (OCF). New UMN metering will be installed to monitor the UMN feeders. Additional metering space will be identified for two future UMN feeders. A UMN provided SCADA panel will be installed in the building for monitoring of the needed analog and binary status points of the station. Due to space constraints of the existing building, the 13.8 kV instrument transformers are expected to be installed in padmount enclosures unless it can be determined by the design team that they can be installed in the building. Station aux power will be served by a new single phase, padmounted transformer.