IN Brief:
- Energa-Operator has extended the Świercze substation tender deadline to 3 September 2026.
- The project includes two 31.5MVA transformers, a 110kV H5 switchyard, and a 20-panel 15kV switchboard.
- The station forms part of a 14-substation smart-grid programme seeking European funding.
Energa-Operator has extended the bidding period for construction of the Świercze 110/15kV substation in Poland, moving the submission deadline to 3 September as procurement continues for a new high- and medium-voltage grid node.
The amended notice updates a procedure originally issued in July and retains a substantial multi-discipline scope. Two 31.5MVA high-voltage/medium-voltage transformers will provide 63MVA of installed transformer nameplate capacity, supported by new 110kV and 15kV switchgear, protection, control, communications, auxiliary systems, and civil infrastructure.
The 110kV section will use an outdoor H5 switchyard arrangement covering both primary and secondary circuits. Foundations, support structures, high-voltage equipment, busbars, drained cable channels, and the control and signalling cables linking field equipment with the station control room all form part of the construction package.
Two transformer positions will be created for the 31.5MVA units, with medium-voltage cable bridges connecting them to the 15kV system. A new technical building will house a 20-panel medium-voltage switchboard, while the civil works include site grading, fencing, internal roads, access from the Świercze–Klukówek municipal road, external lighting, water supply, earthing, and lightning protection.
The project extends further into digital and operational infrastructure. Energa requires two auxiliary-supply positions with automatically regulated compensation reactors, a telecontrol and communications system, a reinforced-concrete tower supporting TETRA communications, and a technical security system for the station.
Changes are also required at the existing Ciechanów and Nasielsk substations, showing that Świercze cannot be commissioned as an isolated asset. Protection, communications, control, and switching arrangements at neighbouring network points must recognise the new station before it can operate as part of the wider distribution system.
The contractor will carry responsibility through installation, testing, commissioning, and energisation of the high- and medium-voltage bays. That places the contract closer to a complete operational-delivery package than to a conventional equipment-supply order, with performance depending on the interaction of civil works, primary plant, secondary systems, communications, and network interfaces.
The project is explicitly tied to renewable-energy integration. Energa describes the station as supporting development of intelligent electricity systems in an area affected by growing renewable generation, while the wider investment forms part of a programme covering the construction and modernisation of 14 substations.
That programme is seeking support under Poland’s European Funds for Infrastructure, Climate and Environment 2021–2027 framework. The funding rationale reflects a practical constraint on renewable expansion: generation can only be connected at scale where the surrounding network has sufficient transformer capacity, voltage control, fault-level capability, protection coordination, and feeder availability.
A 110/15kV station performs a critical interface role between the regional high-voltage network and medium-voltage distribution feeders. The transformers determine how much power can be exchanged between the two voltage levels, while the switchgear and protection systems determine how that capacity can be operated safely during normal conditions, faults, and maintenance.
The two-transformer arrangement gives the operator more flexibility than a single-unit design when equipment is unavailable, although the precise contingency criteria applying at Świercze are not stated in the public tender. The design nevertheless provides two independent transformer positions rather than concentrating the entire station capacity in one machine.
Digital systems are being incorporated as part of the core infrastructure rather than added later. Telecontrol allows switching states, alarms, measurements, and other operational information to be exchanged with remote control functions, while the communications architecture supports protection, dispatch, engineering access, and wider station supervision.
This integration makes cybersecurity part of substation engineering. The tender contains supply-chain and security provisions covering equipment, software, materials, and ICT products, excluding items affected by applicable Polish cybersecurity restrictions and applying origin requirements to specified supplies.
Modern substations increasingly contain networked relays, control gateways, engineering workstations, communications interfaces, and software-defined functions alongside conventional breakers and transformers. A compromise affecting those systems can influence visibility or control of physical electrical equipment, which is why supplier and software requirements now sit beside voltage ratings, short-circuit performance, and environmental specifications.
The project also has a regulatory interface around fluorinated gases. Because completion of the wider contract is expected after 1 January 2028, Energa states that newly commissioned equipment must comply with the applicable EU F-gas restrictions affecting switchgear technologies.
One compact SF6-insulated bus-coupler module is being supplied separately by the employer and must be energised before 1 January 2028. That creates an earlier commissioning milestone within the wider project and means the construction programme cannot be planned solely around a single final completion date.
Civil works, the 110kV arrangement, auxiliary systems, protection, control, and the employer-provided coupling module will have to be sufficiently advanced to support that earlier energisation. Interfaces between employer-supplied and contractor-installed equipment will therefore require careful management during design, testing, and commissioning.
The amended bidding date changes the procurement timetable but not the technical scope. Świercze remains a large substation package combining power transformers, 110kV primary plant, medium-voltage distribution, compensation equipment, telecontrol, communications, civil works, cybersecurity requirements, and regulatory constraints on equipment technology.
Its renewable-integration label provides the strategic context, but delivery will depend on conventional grid engineering executed across multiple disciplines. The practical result must be a functioning 110/15kV node in which transformers, busbars, breakers, relays, cables, telecommunications, auxiliary supplies, and civil infrastructure operate as one system.
