Engineering Standard

SAES-P-119 5 October 2009

Onshore Substations
Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee Members
Ishwait, Basel A., Chairman
Ghamdi, Mohammed Ahmed, Vice Chairman
Carlson, Ronald Wayne
Fayez, Hamad Abdullah
Gopal, Uarutharaja
Hartman, Ralph August
Helfrich, Cory Allan
Maghrabi, Ibrahim Mohammad
Nazzawi, Abdullah Omar
Ojan, Jawad Ali
Qahtani, Ali Mohammed
Ramadhan, Mohammad Jafar
Refai, Jobran Ali
Sheef, Jaafar Abdullah
Tuaimi, Hamad Abdullah

Saudi Aramco DeskTop Standards

Table of Contents

1 Scope........................................................... 2
2 Conflicts and Deviations.............................. 2
3 References.................................................. 2
4 Definitions.................................................... 4
5 General........................................................ 4
6 Substation Buildings.................................... 7
7 Substation Yard........................................... 10

Previous Issue: 26 May 2009 Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014

Revised paragraphs are indicated in the right margin Page 1 of 17
Primary contact: Ishwait, Basel A. on 966-3-8760288

Copyright©Saudi Aramco 2009. All rights reserved.

Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

1 Scope

This standard presents the mandatory requirements for the design and installation of
onshore power substations. This document may not be attached to nor made a part of
purchase orders.

2 Conflicts and Deviations

2.1 If there are any conflicts between this Standard and associated project or
engineering documents, this standard shall take precedence. The exception is if
an approved Waiver Request has been included with the purchasing documents.

2.2 Any conflicts between this Standard and other Mandatory Saudi Aramco
Engineering Requirements (MSAERs*) or referenced industry standards shall be
identified to the Company or Buyer Representative who will request the
Manager, Consulting Services Department of Saudi Aramco, Dhahran to resolve
the conflict.
* Examples of MSAERs are Saudi Aramco Materials System Specifications (SAMSSs), Engineering
Standards (SAESs) and Standard Drawings (SASDs).

2.3 Direct all requests to deviate from this Standard in writing to the Company or
Buyer Representative, who shall follow internal company procedure SAEP-302
and forward Waiver Request to the Manager, Consulting Services Department
of Saudi Aramco, Dhahran requesting his approval.

2.4 The designation "Commentary" is used to label a sub-paragraph that contains

comments that are explanatory or advisory. These comments are not mandatory,
except to the extent that they explain mandatory requirements contained in this
SAES.

3 References

The selection of material and equipment, and the design, construction, maintenance, and
repair of equipment and facilities covered by this standard shall comply with the latest
edition of the references listed below unless otherwise noted.

3.1 Saudi Aramco References

Saudi Aramco Engineering Procedure

SAEP-302 Instructions for Obtaining a Waiver of a
Mandatory Saudi Aramco Engineering
Requirement

Page 2 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

Saudi Aramco Engineering Standards

SAES-B-014 Safety Requirements for Plant and Operations
Support Buildings
SAES-B-055 Plant Layout
SAES-K-001 Heat Ventilating and Air Conditioning
SAES-K-002 Air Conditioning Systems for Essential Operating
Facilities
SAES-M-006 Saudi Aramco Security and General Purpose
Fencing
SAES-M-100 Saudi Aramco Building Code
SAES-O-100 General Requirements Safety and Security
SAES-O-109 Minimum Standards for Buildings Housing
Sensitive or Vital Equipment
SAES-P-101 Regulated Vendors List for Electrical Equipment
SAES-P-103 Direct Current and UPS Systems
SAES-P-111 Grounding
SAES-P-116 Switchgear and Control Equipment
SAES-P-123 Lighting
SAES-P-126 Power Monitoring System
SAES-Q-006 Asphalt Concrete Paving
SAES-S-020 Industrial Drainage and Sewers

Saudi Aramco Materials System Specifications

14-SAMSS-536 Pad-Mounted Three-Phase Distribution
Transformers
16-SAMSS-502 Metal-Enclosed Low-Voltage Switchgear
Assemblies
16-SAMSS-503 Indoor Controlgear - Low Voltage
16-SAMSS-504 Indoor Metal-Clad Switchgear 1 to 38 kV
16-SAMSS-506 Indoor Controlgear - High Voltage
16-SAMSS-510 Manually Operated Pad Mounted SF6 Switchgear:
1 kV to 36 kV
16-SAMSS-514 Control and Protective Relay Panel – Indoor

Page 3 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

34-SAMSS-815 Annunciators

Saudi Aramco Standard Drawing

AB-036319 Standard Sign: Danger High Voltage

Saudi Aramco Library Drawings

DA-950151 to DA-950163 Standard Substation Building Design

3.2 Industry Codes and Standards

American National Standards Institute

ANSI C2 National Electrical Safety Code
ANSI/NFPA 70 National Electrical Code
ANSI/IEEE 979 IEEE Guide for Substation Fire Protection
ANSI/IEEE 980 IEEE Guide for Containment and Control of Oil
Spills in Substations
IEEE C37.1 - 1994 IEEE Standard Definition, Specification, and
Analysis of Systems Used for Supervisory
Control, Data Acquisition, and Automatic
Control
IEEE 605 - 1998 IEEE Guide for Design of Substation Rigid-Bus
Structures
IEEE 998 - 1996 IEEE Guide for Direct Lighting Stroke Shielding
of Substations

4 Definitions

Controlgear: is equipment manufactured to either 16-SAMSS-506 (Indoor

Controlgear - High Voltage) or 16-SAMSS-503 (Indoor Controlgear-Low Voltage).

Secondary-Selective: A switchgear assembly consisting of two buses connected with

a single bus tie breaker. Each bus has one breaker to receive incoming power. (i.e.,
power flow into and between the two busses is controlled with three breakers). Also,
referred to as "double-ended" switchgear.

Switchgear: Is equipment manufactured to either 16-SAMSS-502 (Metal-Enclosed

Low-Voltage Switchgear Assemblies) or 16-SAMSS-504 (Indoor Metal-Clad
Switchgear 1 to 38 kV).

Page 4 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

5 General

5.1 Terms in bold font are defined within Section 4.

5.2 Saudi Aramco defines a substation as any assemblage of electrical equipment

which includes a power transformer rated 751 kVA and larger or switchgear
rated 1 kV and higher.
Exception:

This standard does not apply to manually operated pad-mounted switchgear

manufactured to 16-SAMSS-510 or pad-mounted distribution transformers
manufactured to 14-SAMSS-536.

Commentary Note 5.2:

See SAES-P-116 for guidance on equipment that is located in substation

buildings.

5.3 Substations shall be in accordance with the ANSI/NFPA 70 (National Electric

Code) and ANSI C2 (National Electrical Safety Code) as supplemented by this
Standard.

5.4 Location of substation and substation equipment shall comply with

SAES-B-055. Substations shall be located in non-classified areas.

5.5 Each substation building shall be provided with Annunciator/monitor panel(s)

indicating the below status conditions. The annunciator panels shall be
combinations of either:

5.5.1 Discrete annunciator panel(s) meeting the requirements of

34-SAMSS-815. A common trouble alarm shall be extended to a
manned facility.

5.5.2 Monitors displaying information resident in local workstations.

5.5.3 The following status conditions to be displayed:

a) Loss of circuit breaker tripping supply (Minimum one alarm per

bus)

b) Loss of switchgear protection supply (Minimum one alarm per

bus)

c) Loss of circuit breaker SF6 gas pressure

d) Low circuit breaker operating air pressure

Page 5 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

e) Power transformer combustible gas present

f) Power transformer pressure relief valve operated

g) Power transformer Buchholz relay operated

h) Power transformer high winding temperature

i) Power transformer loss of reference potential on Automatic

Voltage Regulator (AVR)

j) Power transformer loss of cooling fan supply voltage

k) Power transformer low transformer oil

l) Power transformer high oil temperature

m) Power transformer low tap changer oil level

n) Power transformer loss of tap changer motor operating supply

o) Power transformer tap changer failure

Commentary Notes 5.5:

Alarms are equipment specific. Most substations will not have all of
these alarms.

5.6 Tap changer, automatic voltage regulator, protection and circuit breaker control
panels shall be located inside the substation building when associated equipment
is located in an outdoor transformer yard or switchyard (e.g., transformer with
an automatic tap changer or outdoor circuit breaker).

5.7 HV Control and Protection panels shall be supplied either by the circuit breaker
manufacturer or an approved HV Control and Protection panel manufacturer, in
conformance with SAES-P-101 and 16-SAMSS-514. Control and Protection
panels shall be arranged as follows for each: Line protection and metering, Bus
Bar Protection, Feeder Protection and metering, Circuit Breaker Bay Control
including Breaker failure protection, and Automatic voltage regulation. The
panels shall be of simplex type having front door access with relays surface
mounted on the door. Circuit breaker control and indication functions shall be
arranged on the circuit breaker control panels to represent the substation
configuration (e.g., Breaker and half, inverted PI, etc.) and be interconnected by
a mimic line diagram indelibly represented on the surface of the panel with a
maximum of one substation bay per panel

Page 6 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

5.8 Substations shall have a grounding system meeting the requirements of

SAES-P-111.

5.9 High voltage disconnect switches shall be manually operated double break,
center rotation type located at the tubular bus level.

6 Substation Buildings

6.1 Substation buildings shall be constructed in accordance with SAES-M-100 and

SAES-B-014.
Commentary Note 6.1:

SAES-M-100 requires substation building to be constructed in accordance with

library drawings DA-950151- DA-950163 inclusive.

SAES-B-014 has specific requirements for buildings in near or associated with

plants and may require a Building Risk Assessment Study that may affect the
construction of the building.

6.2 Passageways shall be unobstructed and shall provide a minimum 2.3 m

headroom.

6.3 Cable trays shall be installed as follows:

6.3.1 Parallel and at right angles to the building walls.

6.3.2 Minimum of 200 mm of vertical clearance shall be provided between

cable trays.

6.3.3 The elevation of the bottom of the lowest interior cable tray shall be a
minimum of 2.67 m above the main substation floor.

6.4 Conductors shall enter or exit through the building walls.

Exception 6.4:

Substation buildings housing Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) with 69kV voltage
rating and above.

6.5 Conductors shall enter the equipment from the top.

6.6 Maximum substation building length shall be limited to 50 meters.

Exception 6.6:

If written approval is obtained from the Consulting Services Department/Civil

Engineering Unit. Requests for approval must be accompanied by structural
design calculations verifying the buildings blast design capacity.

Page 7 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

6.7 Exterior illumination shall consist of HID high pressure sodium type fixtures
controlled by a photo cell. A Hand-Off-Automatic (HOA) selector switch shall
be provided in accordance with SAES-P-123 requirements for exterior
illumination controls.

6.8 All interior substation lighting shall be fed from different power supplies
(i.e., fed from two different low voltage switchgear bus).
Commentary Note 6.8:

This requirement can be implemented by equally distributing the substation lights

between two low voltage panelboards or feeding all substation lights from one
panelboard fed from two different power supplies through manual Transfer Switch
(TS).

6.9 Emergency interior illumination shall be provided by one of the following:

6.9.1 Self-contained, battery-powered emergency lighting units, with integral

charger, which are automatically energized upon loss of 120 VAC
power.

6.9.2 Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) system located in the substation.

6.10 Duplex, 3-wire, 20 A, 120 VAC (NEMA 5-20R) convenience outlets shall be
provided throughout the substation building. A minimum of one outlet shall be
provided for each 6 m of wall space at 1 m above the floor. A minimum of two
outlets per substation shall be provided.

6.11 Each substation building shall be provided with a redundant air-conditioning

system in accordance with SAES-K-001 and SAES-K-002. The indoor
temperature in battery rooms shall meet the requirements of SAES-K-002. For
normally occupied substations, the office facility or other occupied area shall
meet the indoor temperature requirements of SAES-K-001 for offices.
Temperature requirements for unattended substations are also specified in
SAES-K-001.
Commentary Note 6.11:

Unattended substations require a design maximum temperature of 35°C,

however, the HVAC for the battery room is required to maintain 25°C.

6.12 Substation roof drainage shall not be to the transformer yard side of the
substation building.

6.13 If a substation is to be constructed over existing pipelines, the substation floor

shall be elevated a minimum of 1.8 m above grade. The space below the
elevated substations shall have the following characteristics:

Page 8 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

6.13.1 Be freely ventilated on at least three sides.

6.13.2 The ground below the building shall be at or above finished grade.

6.13.3 Be enclosed with grillwork suitable for the environmental conditions

and a lockable gate to permit access only to authorized personnel. The
grillwork and the gate shall be connected to the substation grounding
system.

6.13.4 Shall not drain to the transformer yard side of the substation building.

6.13.5 The side of the building adjacent to the transformer yard shall have a
solid wall (fire-rating the same as the building wall) that separates the
space from the transformer yard.
Commentary Note:

Note that this specification does not allow cable or electrical raceways
to enter/exit through the floor.

6.14 The concrete floor in front of switchgear shall be flush with the roller level of
lower breaker carriage rack and have a smooth surface to facilitate removal and
rolling of breaker. This floor area shall be surface hardened for rolling stock.

6.15 Underneath switchgear and controlgear, one of the following shall be provided
to ensure the equipment is maintained on an even plane:

6.15.1 Leveling steel beams or channels. Design and installation of these

channels shall be in accordance with the recommendations of the
switchgear and controlgear manufacturer.

6.15.2 The floor shall be horizontal in both planes with a maximum surface
height variation less than 5 mm per 3 meters.

6.16 Substation buildings shall have a minimum 2 hour fire rating and be constructed
in accordance with SAES-M-100 and where required SAES-O-100 and
SAES-O-109 standards.

6.17 A battery room and battery handling facilities shall be provided for stationary
batteries in accordance with SAES-P-103.

6.18 Circuit breaker testing facilities and operating tools shall be provided and
installed in the substation in accordance with SAES-P-116.

6.19 Substation buildings with single-ended switchgear shall be designed to

accommodate future double-ending.

Page 9 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

Commentary Note 6.19:

Since providing for future double-ending will require additional floor space, this
should be addressed in the design basis or project proposal documents.

6.20 Substation buildings shall have a telephone and data communications. This
shall include connection to the plant local area network. SAES-P-126 mandates
a dedicated (stand lone) Ethernet network for the power monitoring system.

6.21 Substation buildings shall have provisions for mounting and protecting as-built
key one-line diagrams for ready reference of operating personnel.

6.22 Substation buildings shall have smoke detection systems per SAES-B-014.

6.23 Substation buildings shall have Distributed Control System (DCS) Input/Output
(I/O) ports available. This shall be implemented either by remote I/O racks(s)
and/or DCS controllers within the substation. Design, installation and
interconnection to plant DCS system shall be per the applicable SAES-J series
of standards.
Commentary Note 6.23:

SAES-P-116 and controlgear specifications require the controlgear be

controlled via serial communication through these I/O ports. Other substation
equipment may also use this I/O system to communicate to the DCS system.

7 Substation Yard

7.1 For on-shore, outdoor installations, pad-mounted electrical equipment shall be

placed on a level concrete pad, the top of which is elevated a minimum of
100 mm above natural grade. Unless greater clearances are specified by the
NEC, the following minimum clearances shall apply:

7.1.1 A minimum working clearance of 2 meters on all sides.

7.1.2 A minimum working clearance of 3 meters on the sides of the

equipment having doors or access panels which can be opened to
expose live parts.

7.1.3 The intent of the above requirements is met by gate(s) which can be
opened to provide the required clearance.
Exception:

Clearance between pad-mounted electrical equipment and fences or

walls installed for the purpose of protecting the equipment from
unauthorized access is permitted to be reduced to a minimum of 1
meter with the concurrence of the proponent, provided that the 3-meter

Page 10 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

clearance is maintained for equipment doors and access panels

required to be opened for normal maintenance and/or operations.

Commentary Note:

The above clearances are minimums, ANSI/NFPA 70 or equipment

manufacturer may require greater clearances for some installations.

7.2 Transformer clearances and fire barriers shall be as follows:

7.2.1 For transformers containing 7570 liters and less of insulated oil:
Clearance shall be per 7.1 above.

7.2.2 For transformers containing more than 7570 liter of insulated oil:

a) Separation from buildings

If the building has a fire rating; 6.1 meters or greater

(Figure 1).

b) Separation between transformers.

If no fire barrier or barrier fire rating is less than 1 hour: greater

than a minimum of 9.1 meters of clear space as specified in
ANSI/IEEE 979 (Figure 2).

7.2.3 Fire barrier characteristics shall be as follows:

a) The height of a fire barrier shall not be less than 300 mm above
the height of transformer tank, conservator (if applicable),
transformer bushing, and pressure relief vents, etc. (Figure 1).

b) The fire barrier shall extend at least 600 mm horizontal beyond

the line of sight between all points on adjacent transformers
(Figure 1). The height of the fire barrier shall be enough to break
the line-of-sight from any point on the top of the transformer and
adjacent transformer as specified in ANSI/IEEE 979 (Figure 1).

7.3 Transformer oil containment/drainage shall be as follows:

7.3.1 For transformers containing 2500 liters or less of oil: No oil

containment/drainage is required

7.3.2 For transformers containing more than 2500 liters of oil, the following
oil containment/drainage system shall be provided:

Page 11 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

a) Oil containment and drainage systems shall meet the general

requirements of ANSI/IEEE 980 and the specific requirements of
SAES-S-020.

b) For power transformers up to 2.5 MVA oil containment shall be

in the form of toe walls of sufficient height and area to contain
twice the oil volume of the transformer.

c) For power transformers 2.5 MVA and above oil containment

shall be in the form of a concrete pit constructed around the
transformer foundation. The pit shall be equipped with a steel
grating covered with crushed rock to a minimum thickness of 300
mm for fire quenching and have the following characteristics:

i) The crushed rock shall be a minimum sieve size of 25 mm

uniformly graded.

ii) The steel grading mesh size shall be less than 25 mm².

iii) A removable section, with a steel lid not covered with

crushed rock, shall be provided in a corner of the steel
grating to allow access for cleaning.

iv) A sump shall be provided at a corner of the pit for

collection of rain water or oil. The sump shall have means
of drainage either by suitable connection to sewers or other
means of fluid removal.
Commentary Note 7.3.2:

Oil containment shall be designed to accommodate environmental

conditions. Pits completely filled with crushed rock shall not be used
since they must be made extremely large to contain the oil volume plus
the crushed rock and they cannot be easily cleaned of wind blown sand
accumulation.

7.4 Transformer Neutral Ground Resister (NGR) shall be located in the substation
yard. NGR shall not be mounted on a transformer.

7.5 The substation yard shall be completely paved as a plant area in accordance with
the requirements of SAES-Q-006. The thickness of the combined asphalt layers
shall not be less than 10 cm.
Commentary Note 7.5:

The high surface resistivity of an asphalt-aggregate mixture under both wet and
dry conditions reduces the number of ground grid conductors required to obtain
safe step and touch potentials during ground faults.

Page 12 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

7.6 Substation yards shall be enclosed. Fences shall be constructed in accordance

with the requirements of SAES-M-006. Warning signs shall be in accordance
with Saudi Aramco Standard Drawing AB-036319 and shall be posted on the
fence at intervals not to exceed 6 m.

7.7 Equipment located in the substation yard shall not be accessible from the roof of
the substation building.

PLAN (TOP) SECTION (SIDE)

VIEW VIEW
None Fire Rated Substation

X
2 hours Firewall
Building

Building
Substation
X

2 hours Firewall
X

<X <X

Generic

PLAN (TOP) SECTION (SIDE)

VIEW VIEW
6.1m
2 hours Fire rated Substation Building

2m
1 hour Firewall 600 mm
Building 2 hours
Substation
Firewall

300 mm
600 mm

2m
600 mm

6.1m

6.1m
Figure-1

Page 13 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

6.1m

2 hours Fire rated Substation Building

9.1 m

6.1m

Figure-2

7.8 120 VAC utility receptacles shall be provided with the following characteristics:

7.8.1 Sufficient receptacles shall be installed inside and outside the

substation building so that a receptacle is located within 6 m of each
power circuit breaker (indoor and outdoor) and each power
transformer.

7.8.2 NEMA 5-20R type.

7.8.3 Outdoor units shall be equipped with self-closing covers which are
weatherproof when the covers are closed.

7.8.4 Outdoor receptacles shall be fed from a 20 A rated Ground Fault

Circuit Breaker with 5 mA sensitivity. (i.e., receptacles with integral
ground fault protection are not acceptable).

7.9 The outdoor high voltage substation and switchyard (69 kV and above) shall be
in accordance with the following:

7.9.1 Bus design

a) Outdoor Rigid Bus design shall be in accordance with IEEE

Guide for Design of Substation Rigid-Bus Structures,
IEEE 605 - 1998.

b) Bus conductors shall be manufactured from Schedule 40/80

seamless aluminum alloy tubing, temper 6063-T6.

Page 14 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

c) Vertical bus deflection under maximum loading conditions,

including the weight of vibration damping measures, shall be
limited to 0.5% of span length.

d) Maximum horizontal span length between bus supports shall be

10 meters.

e) Vibration damping shall be accomplished by inserting stranded

bare conductor inside the rigid bus tubing. The stranded
conductor shall be of the same material as the tubing to prevent
corrosion.

f) The rigid bus shall be joined by welding. Bolted joints in the

tubular bus are not acceptable.

g) Connections to the tubular bus shall either be welded or via

welded pads providing standard NEMA bolt pattern.

h) Flexible joints shall be provided to control expansion on bus runs

longer than 30 meters.

i) Welded grounding lugs shall be provided on the bus tubing for

the attachment of safety grounds. The ground lugs shall be
located on the rigid bus on both sides of disconnect switches and
circuit breakers.

j) Connection from rigid bus to circuit breakers shall be via

stranded cable jumpers with compression fittings and NEMA bolt
pattern for both the bus and circuit breaker connections.

k) Rigid bus supports shall be constructed from steel I-beam, steel

pipe or square section steel tubing.

l) Composite bus support post type insulators shall be used

comprising silicone rubber compound external insulation over a
solid fiberglass core with ANSI/IEEE/NEMA bolt patterns.

7.9.2 Electrical clearances shall be in accordance with ANSI C2 (NESC).

7.9.3 Lightning shielding shall be per SAES-P-111.

7.9.4 The outdoor HV substation and switchyard dimensions shall be as

indicated in Table 1 & Figure 3.

Page 15 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

Table 1 – Outdoor HV Substation and Switchyard Dimensions (in meters)

Voltage A B C D E F G H
69 kV 4.3 4.0 2.8 1.6 4.9 1.3 15.3 4.6
115 kV 7.4 4.0 3.1 4.9 4.9 2.5 15.3 4.6
230 kV 9.1 6.2 5.0 4.9 6 3.1 19 4.6

Figure 3 – Outdoor Substation Dimension

7.10 Exposed equipment insulators, except for surge arresters, shall have a minimum
leakage distance of 40 mm per kV line-to-line of the nominal system voltage.

7.11 Surge arresters shall have the following characteristics:

a) Be of the composite insulation type with silicone rubber compound

external insulation over a hermetically sealed fiberglass core.

b) The voltage rating of arresters used in substations shall be as indicated in

Table 2.

c) On systems with nominal operating voltages of 13.8 kV and above, surge

arresters shall be installed in substations at the following locations:

i) At interface points between overhead lines, open bus and

underground lines

Page 16 of 17
Document Responsibility: Electrical Substations Equipment Standards Committee SAES-P-119
Issue Date: 5 October 2009
Next Planned Update: 26 May 2014 Onshore Substations

ii) On power transformer terminals which are connected to overhead

lines or open bus.

iii) When specified as being required, intermediate class arresters shall

be used for transformers rated 10 MVA and below and station class
arresters shall be used to protect transformers rated greater than
10 MVA.
Commentary Note 7.11:

Ratings in the table are based on solidly grounded systems which is the Saudi
Aramco standard for these nominal system voltages. Ungrounded or resistance
grounded systems require higher arrester ratings. MCOV is "Maximum
Continuous Operating Voltage".

Table 2 – Required Arrester Ratings vs. System Voltages

Nominal System Maximum System
Duty Cycle Rating MCOV
Voltage Voltage Rating
(kV) (kV rms) (kV rms)
(kV)
34.5 38 30 24.4
69 76 60 48.0
115 127 108 84.0
230 253 192 152.0

d) Surge arrester grounding terminals shall be connected, with minimum

bends, directly to the ground bus or grid or, in the case of surge arresters
mounted on transformers, directly to the grounding pad provided on the
transformer.

Revision Summary
26 May 2009 Revised the “Next Planned Update”. Reaffirmed the contents of the document and reissued
with minor revision.
5 October 2009 Minor revision.

Page 17 of 17