Modeling Fault Current

Typically, Pioneer Power Group creates a utility transformer model to establish the available fault current in an overall system. In order to calculate this, access is required to the existing equipment upstream of any new equipment to be installed. This however wasn’t a typical situation, and our engineering team was told we would not have access to the existing equipment upstream. While this was an unexpected complication, our team took it in stride and started developing other ideas that could work.

Shortly after the team completed an assessment of project solutions, we reached out to the client and explained the solutions generated and discussed the pros and cons of each. Every option was detailed to the client with step-by-step discussions of project implications. From these collaborative meetings, a few ideas emerged – including the use of an infinite bus assumption at the panels, securing information on the existing equipment from the contractor that was responsible for equipment installation and determining whether an existing fault current study had been done previously. In addition, through our teams’ great efforts we were successful in locating an earlier study with fault current information.