About Xodus Group
Xodus provides engineering and advisory services to clients in the oil and gas, LNG, renewables and utility industries worldwide.
Requirements
ESUK received an enquiry from Xodus Group to discuss arc flash and how to manage the risk of an arc flash on an Offshore Wellhead Platform. Due to the nature of the site and its location, Electrical Safety UK developed a bespoke solution to their requirements to obtain the information required to provide a fixed price proposal for an Arc Flash Study.
Solution
Electrical Safety UK was contracted to undertake the Arc Flash Study for the Offshore Wellhead Platform site, located in the South China Sea, in compliance with UK/European Legislation using the benchmark IEEE 1584 and NFPA 70 Standards.
ESUK would normally attend a client’s site to gather, quantify and confirm data to complete the Arc Flash Study.
On this occasion, ESUK were able to work with the client in developing a bespoke data collection process that involved the client’s own engineers and reduce the risk of sending engineers to site.
Single Line Diagrams and site data was issued to ESUK through secure means, a gap analysis carried out and data collection documents completed.
Online Conference facilities were utilised to train Xodus engineers in methods of Data Collection to collect outstanding data required when attending site.
We were subsequently asked to deliver arc flash awareness training to staff and contractors and to carry out task-based risk assessments on the high incident energy equipment identified during the study. The project was fixed price and scheduled to take 5 months. A project tracker was developed and updated as a live document with the Xodus Group Principal Integrity Consultant on a weekly basis.
Approach
ESUK agreed the scope and strategy with site management. ESUK’s standard Windows based software tool, EasyPower®* was used to model the electrical systems.
*ESUK supply, free of charge, a copy of EasyPower® with every completed Arc Flash Study.
ESUK and Xodus utilised a secure file exchange server to exchange data, information and files for the project. The data collected during the discovery phase of the project was downloaded into our EasyPower® modelling software. We analysed the Offshore Wellhead Platform’s electrical system including:
- short circuit analysis
- simple protective device coordination
- arc flash incident energy
- arc flash boundary distance
Any instances where the 3-phase prospective short circuit current exceeded the breaking capacity of protective devices was highlighted in the report. Protection device time current characteristic curves showing any instances of miscoordination were provided. Incident energy levels and arc flash boundary distances were listed for all equipment included in the scope of the study.
Up to date, single line diagrams for the electrical network were provided to Xodus Group, that included Site Data, Fault Study and Arc Flash Study Analysis.
Incident energy hazard reduction analysis was then carried out and preferred options and order of magnitude costs were given for the reduction of the incident energy where it was above 8 cals/cm 2 . We also provided guidance on the “As Low As Reasonably Practicable” requirements of UK Legislation.
ESUK presented the Arc Flash Report via video conferencing with the Xodus team from their respective locations.
Arc flash equipment labels were sent to the Xodus site once the design was approved by site personnel. Arc flash PPE guidance was included in the report and our strategic partner JK Ross were asked to help Xodus Group with their arc flash PPE requirements.
