IN Brief:
- PP Control & Automation and Transmission Engineering Services have agreed a collaboration covering design and manufacture of electricity-network protection and control panels.
- The combined offering includes engineering, panel construction, and factory acceptance testing, with a model already used on a National Grid project in North Yorkshire.
- TES brings high-voltage engineering capability while PP C&A supplies repeatable manufacturing and testing capacity for complex electrical assemblies.
PP Control & Automation has joined forces with Transmission Engineering Services (TES) to provide design, manufacture, and factory acceptance testing of protection and control panels for UK electricity networks. The arrangement brings transmission engineering and panel production into a coordinated process, allowing equipment layouts, wiring, protection functions, and testing requirements to be considered together before completed assemblies are delivered to substations.
The companies have already applied the approach on a National Grid scheme to reinforce the high-voltage network across North Yorkshire. Their joint offering covers the progression from detailed protection and control engineering to a finished panel that can be tested before shipment. The confirmed North Yorkshire work establishes a practical application of the partnership, while future delivery volumes will depend on contracts placed by individual network customers.
In a transmission or distribution substation, protection relays use current and voltage measurements to determine whether network equipment is experiencing a fault or another condition requiring action. A protection scheme can initiate a circuit-breaker trip to isolate the affected circuit, while the control system provides switching commands, equipment indications, and interlocking functions. The panel is the physical home for many of those connections, including auxiliary supplies, relays, terminal blocks, and links to the wider substation control system.
Each electrical function depends on a chain of detailed engineering decisions. Relay settings must correspond to the protected circuit, trip signals must reach the correct breaker, and monitoring and control wiring must match the approved schematics. Cabinet layout, terminal schedules, cable access, and communication interfaces also affect installation and maintenance. Design changes that surface only after a panel reaches site can be difficult to accommodate within the access arrangements and outage periods available at an operational substation.
TES supplies the specialist protection and control engineering. Its work includes scheme design, relay settings and configuration, interface drawings, computer-aided design, testing, and project governance. It holds National Electricity Registration Scheme (NERS) design accreditation up to 132kV and has experience of engineering work on 275kV and 400kV transmission infrastructure. The accreditation limit and the higher-voltage project experience are distinct parts of its published capability, each relevant to the responsibilities agreed for a particular contract.
PP C&A manufactures the electrical assemblies developed through those engineering packages. Its existing grid equipment work includes protection and control panels, supervisory control and data acquisition interfaces, remote terminal units, low-voltage alternating-current distribution, direct-current charger panels, and switchgear controls. Although the functions differ, the assemblies require traceable wiring, consistent components, documented configurations, and a test plan matched to the customer’s engineering requirements.
Factory acceptance testing checks the completed assembly against its design while it is still in a controlled manufacturing environment. Depending on the agreed specification, the work may cover wiring continuity, insulation, indications, outputs, and simulated operation of configured protection or control functions. Design and test engineers can resolve faults before equipment is transported to site, where access to primary plant and opportunities for corrective work may be more restricted.
The joint delivery model is intended to bring those manufacturing and testing questions forward into design. Protection engineers can discuss cabinet space, auxiliary supply arrangements, terminals, cable entries, and the means of demonstrating the required functions with the panel builder before construction begins. Such coordination also affects drawings and bills of materials, helping ensure that the equipment being produced corresponds to the version of the design that will be tested and delivered.
The interface is particularly demanding when new panels are being introduced to an existing substation. Network reinforcement can involve replacement of protection systems, additional circuits, or changes to switchgear arrangements while other equipment remains energised. The factory-built panel still has to be connected to the correct instrument transformers, circuit breakers, communications, and control circuits during site commissioning. Factory testing verifies the assembly; the final on-site checks establish its behaviour in the installed network configuration.
Engineering governance and document control are therefore part of the combined service, alongside production capacity. TES identifies design-intent documents, functional specifications, protection settings, and as-built records among its capabilities, while PP C&A provides the manufacturing process and test facilities. A consistent route from approved engineering documents to assembled equipment allows each design decision and subsequent change to be tracked against the delivered panel.
Tony Hague, a director of PP Control & Automation, said the partnership was designed to identify production issues earlier in a project. He also estimated more than £10m of potential opportunities for the company over the next two years. The £10m estimate is a future opportunity forecast; the companies’ work on the North Yorkshire project is the established application of their combined approach.
PP C&A has already developed a manufacturing business around grid control equipment, and TES adds detailed protection engineering for new and existing substations. As further projects move from engineering design into panel build, the two businesses will be responsible for aligning schematics, component manufacture, factory test evidence, and the final electrical interfaces required at each installation.
