Electric Utility Substation SPCC Compliance Products

Oil Containment Systems for Electric Utility Substations

Jun 29, 2008 5:58 PM

The Environmental Protection Agency’s deadline for compliance with Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plans for utilities is July 2009. Containment is required by law for certain above-ground oil tanks and transformers located near navigable waters, and for many utilities addressing this issue is a monumental task.

Tony Picagli from United Illuminating and William Gannon from Solidification Products International teamed up to present a session on oil containment systems for substations, sharing their firsthand experiences and several options for SPCC.

Picagli, a principal electric system maintenance engineer at UI in New Haven, Connecticut, will present a few installations his company has made and the rationale behind each installation.

Gannon, president of SPI in Northford, Connecticut, will present several different designs of how SPI has helped companies with SPCC compliance “Today, every type of our product has been used in real-world spills with transformer oil, cable oil, # 6 oil, eiesel and most impressive, a fiery explosion,” Gannon said. “In all cases, no oil has ever been released.”

SPI has been installing passive oil containment systems for more than 10 years. Many companies have begun to address or are about start to comply with the SPCC regulations and need help in finding the best-suited system for their needs.

All SPI systems allow rain water to drain passively while filtering oil sheen from small drips and leaks and only seal in the event of an oil overload. SPI provides Petro-Barrier systems that drain directly into the ground in areas with good water percolation or can be drained off to a drainage area for use in poor draining soil. Petro-Pipes are used in areas with high water tables and are mounted directly into the containment wall allowing all the water on the containment floor to drain through the Petro-Pipe only sealing in the event of an oil spill.

“There are many different ways to address oil containment, and I will give options to companies that have built containment but have not addressed rainwater build up,” Gannon said.

Picagli’s work at UI concentrates on circuit breakers of all classes, gas-insulated substations and standby battery systems. Picagli is active on several Doble Engineering client committees and has been an IEEE member for over 30 years. He earned both his BSEE and MBA at The University of New Haven and is a registered professional engineer in Connecticut.

Gannon has been in the environmental industry since 1984 in different capacities, from pioneering polymer absorbent technology in 1986 to having developed SPI into a state-of-the-art oil spill containment company. He has three U.S. patents with other U.S. and foreign patents pending.