| Valdes Architecture and Engineering

Valdes has established an experienced team for utility plant retrofits and upgrades. Our mix of personnel —including utilities, independent power producers, equipment manufacturers and engineering firms — allows us to approach your project with the highest degree of technical expertise and with the mindset of an owner. Valdes provides attention to detail but is also practical and cost-effective. We bring this same approach and expertise to steam production and distribution, gas storage and gate stations, renewable energy and water treatment plants.

UTILITIES PROJECT EXPERIENCE

Power Generation

Types of Power Plants:

Coal Fired Power Plants

Gas Fired Power Plants (Simple and Combined Cycle)

Biomass Fired Power Plants

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle plants

Cogeneration Plants

Combined Heat & Power Plants

Reciprocating Engine Power Plants

Services Provided:

Conceptual Studies

Total Installed Cost Estimating

Detailed Design

Laser Scanning and Modeling

Equipment and Labor Specifications

Project Management

Construction Support

Start-up & Commissioning Support

Design of Site Draining, Grading, Tractwork & Storm Sewers
Site Work
Industrial Architectural Design for Buildings

Structural Design
Platform Design
Foundation Design

Grounding Design
High, Medium, and Low Voltage and/or Auxiliary Power Electrical Systems
Transformers

DC Battery Systems
Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs)
Protective Relay Upgrades

High Energy Piping (HEP)
Material Handling Systems

Coal
Coal Combustion residuals
Limestone
Gypsum

Boilers (Solids and Gas Fuels)
- Pressure Parts
- Burners
- Regenerative Air Pre-Heaters
- Forced Draft, Induced Draft, Primary, Secondary Fans
- Steam Coil Air Heaters
Feedwater Heaters
Deaerators
Coal Mills
Air Quality Control Systems
- Selective Catalytic Reducer (SCR)
- Selective Non-Catalytic Reducers (SNCR)
- Dry Sorbent Injection (DSI) Systems
- Wet ScrubbersSpray Dryer Absorbers (SDA)
- Pulse Jet Fabric Filters (Baghouse)
- Electrostatic Precipitators (ESPs)

Turbines, Combustion and Steam and their Auxiliaries
Circulating Water Systems
Mechanical Cooling Towers
Steam Surface Condensers
Water / Wastewater Treatment Systems
Fire Protection Design
Balance of Plant (BOP) Systems

Water / Waste Water Treatment
Station and Instrument Air
Pumps
Cooling Water
Pressure Vessels
Storage Tanks

Control System & Automation Upgrades

DCS
PLC
PLC Migration to DCS
Instrumentation
Burner Management Systems
Turbine Control Systems

Power Delivery Services

Substation Design

New and Upgrades

Services Provided

Conceptual Studies

Total Installed Cost Estimating

Detailed Design

Laser Scanning and Modeling

Equipment and Labor Specifications

Project Management

Construction Support

Start-Up & Commissioning Support

Areas of Experience

Relay Settings

Structural Design

Single-Line Development

Rigid Bus Design

Lightning Shielding Design

Ground Grid Design (WinIGS)

Protection and Control, AC/DC

General Arrangements

Plan and Section Drawings

Control Buildings

Raceway Design, Trenches, Duct Bank, Underground Get-Aways

Wiring Design

Laser Scanning for 3D Modeling of Substations

Lighting Design

Battery Sizing Calculations/Studies

UPS Studies and Implementation

Case Study

SALF Leachate Project

A power plant client needed to redirect ash contact water from an on-site landfill to wet scrubbers for pollution mitigation to comply with a consent degree. The client was faced with a challenge of improving existing conditions to comply with the environmental requirements agreed upon with their state government.

Roof Top Solar Energy - PV Design

An international manufacturer of automotive components needed a plan for the installation of solar panels on the roof of their plant as a part of their sustainability plan. Prior to installation, various engineering services were required to properly layout the project, while technical support was needed to complete the installation prior to and during construction.

480V Load Centers

A power plant had numerous 480V load centers (LCs) that had reached their end of life and most had no spare capacity. It was clear to the client that this was an undertaking that would require many years of dedicated work to evaluate the LCs and develop a plan for their replacement.

Switchyard Upgrade

A client was looking to sell its trigeneration facility and required mechanical and electrical upgrades. Due to the installation of a new upstream substation, options for electrical distribution upgrades to a facility consisting of a steam plant, a chiller plant, and three generating units were necessary. They needed a report and total installed cost (TIC) estimate to approve the project.

Substation Upgrade Project

A refinery client initiated a project to increase the incoming power capability from the local utility to the 34kV busses at its refinery. They needed to upgrade various aspects of its 34kV power distribution system due to the increase in available fault current and power capability provided by the new transformers (max 40MVA rating) and 138kV overhead structures and bus work.

UAS Survey Mapping

A solar energy client required a solar panel design on a large rooftop. The rooftop was approximately 60 feet tall and spanned over 1,000 feet in one direction (3.5 acres) while generating 1 MW of renewable energy. The client needed an efficient and safe method of capturing the existing conditions on the roof to prepare for design work.

Switchgear Replacement Study and Implementation

The units and switchgear for our client’s power plant had been in service for over 60 years, were nearing their end of life and presenting reliability concerns. Our client wanted to install upgrades to the 4kV switchgear and needed to know all of their options to get the project approved and funded.

Outage Planning Services

A utility client needed to plan for an outage in their supercritical generating station. They had identified systems that were in need of replacement, including a stainless steel flue gas desulfurization (FGD) spray header system that needed to be replaced due to corrosion and failure in the existing header material, a steam chest with a substantial deformation that was resulting in operational issues with the control valves, and a degraded coal burner that was causing forced outages. Additionally, a major overhaul of the turbine of one of the units in the generating stations was due for routine service.