IN Brief:
- Willdan received limited notices to proceed on five US electricity infrastructure projects with associated capacities totalling 643MW.
- The scope comprises four transformer substations and a 75MW battery energy storage development.
- The authorisations cover engineering and procurement, not confirmed completion or full construction of the assets.
Willdan Group has received limited notices to proceed covering engineering and procurement for five electricity infrastructure projects in the United States, associated with a combined 643MW of capacity. The assignments span transformer substations serving a California data centre and renewable developments in Texas and Illinois, alongside a separate Texas battery storage installation. Willdan confirmed the authorisations on 5 November, identifying the project types and capacities but not the customers, contract values or dates when each asset is expected to enter operation.
Three of the awards involve renewable generation connections: a transformer substation for 300MW in Texas and two similar installations for 88MW and 80MW in Illinois. Another substation will serve a 100MW data centre in California, while the fifth assignment covers a 75MW battery storage project in Texas. Adding the five associated power ratings gives Willdan’s reported total of 643MW. The projects are located in three states and involve a mixture of electricity demand, generation interfaces and storage equipment.
The California substation serves a large electricity load, rather than a source of generation. It will need to receive power from the utility network and distribute it to the data centre’s electrical systems within the agreed connection capacity. The renewable substations, by contrast, are associated with export from generating installations, while the Texas battery will have a bidirectional network connection. Its 75MW rating specifies the charge or discharge power, but no associated megawatt-hour figure was provided, leaving the battery’s storage duration unspecified.
The limited notices to proceed authorise the engineering and procurement activities specified in Willdan’s initial scopes. The notices set an initial contractual scope; they do not establish that full construction contracts have been released or that the underlying plants have been energised. Engineers can advance electrical designs and equipment specifications while customers finalise site delivery and connection arrangements. Additional notices, equipment procurement and site works may follow, but Willdan did not disclose project completion dates or the value of these initial authorisations.
Transformer substation design must reconcile the required power transfer, voltage levels and available fault current with equipment ratings. Transformers set the voltage interface, while circuit breakers, protective relays and measurement equipment isolate faults and support controlled operation. Communications and control systems also need to exchange the appropriate signals with the connected utility or plant equipment. Designs for a large data centre intake and a renewable generator export point have different operating conditions, even where both require similar classes of high-voltage apparatus.
Procurement can then begin against the agreed technical specifications. High-voltage transformers and switchgear often require defined factory tests, transport arrangements and installation access, which must align with the construction programme. Component selection also affects protection coordination, thermal loading, maintenance and the way the site will be energised. Willdan’s announcement does not identify suppliers, transformer ratings or equipment delivery dates for the five projects, limiting what can be confirmed about their eventual technical configuration.
Across Texas and Illinois, the three renewable substation projects represent 468MW of associated generation capacity. Their design work must establish how produced electricity will be transformed, switched, measured and protected before it is delivered to the network. The eventual export permitted by each connection may differ from the nameplate rating of the adjacent generating facility. Willdan has not stated whether the renewable plants are solar, wind or a mixture, so no technology-specific production profile can be assigned from the project list alone.
The 75MW battery project introduces another set of electrical conditions because energy will flow both into and out of storage. Power-conversion equipment and controls need to manage charging, discharging, network voltage and protection limits. Battery duration is determined by usable stored energy and the discharge power; it cannot be calculated from the quoted 75MW figure alone. Engineers will also need to coordinate the storage system with its transformer and grid interface, but Willdan has not specified the battery chemistry, capacity in MWh or control architecture.
Mike Bieber, Willdan’s chief executive, described growing demand for high-voltage design and construction management as data infrastructure expands alongside grid investment. His comments reflect the mix of projects in the company’s new work: a large power-consuming data centre, renewable export connections and electricity storage. The list also illustrates why separate technical scopes matter. A transformer substation and a storage system may both support grid development, but they involve distinct equipment packages, operating purposes and commissioning requirements.
The five notices provide work for Willdan’s engineering and procurement teams on four substations and one battery installation. Subsequent milestones will include completed designs, equipment orders and, where separately authorised, physical construction and acceptance testing. The announced 643MW is the combined rating of projects associated with those assignments, not the amount of new generation commissioned or an additional supply available to the grid today.
