References - Zesco Limited

primtech Success Story: ZESCO Limited in Zambia
"Experience the substation before the first brick is laid"

About ZESCO Limited

ZESCO Limited, founded in 1970, is the largest electricity utility company in Zambia, covering Generation, Transmission and Distribution. The use of primtech is currently prominent in the Distribution Projects Department - mainly to identify system reinforcement needs and to design substation projects for tenders.

Why primtech?

Design for Tender

The motivation in procuring substation design software was to standardize the substation designs for tenders. George Muyunda, Principal Engineer, is convinced “primtech has helped us achieve this [standardization] and we are now on our way to ensuring that we issue detailed substation design conceptual drawings to EPC contractors.”

Enhances Design Workflow

The design workflow has been greatly enhanced with primtech. An entire substation can now be designed with all drawings, i.e. SLD, general arrangement, section views in much less time - less time than the same task would take in AutoCAD. ”The nice thing is, ALL the drawings are ‘intelligently’ linked such that any change made in the 3D model of the substation project is automatically represented in the drawings. This greatly enhances design time.”, says George Muyunda.

Flexibility - Large Library - Custom Symbols

primtech has thousands of pre-defined symbols. For the distribution substations, it has happened, that a specific symbol needed for a particular design was not available in the library, be it a certain bus bar clamp or a steel structure. However, because of the AutoCAD platform, it is very easy to design custom primtech symbols.

Software Expert in 5 Days

ZESCO was very pleased that after a 5-day course, the engineers trained in primtech were “experts” in the use of the software.

Skilled Technical Support

George Muyunda adds, “We have found to have very good support, always available to assist whether it be a technical issue with the software or library elements.”

Conclusion

George Muyunda concludes, “primtech is great because it gives the design engineer the ability to see the product, i.e. the substation, very detailed, like we have never experienced - before the first brick is laid in the ground. This allows for more accurate bill of materials and cost estimation, which goes a long way in minimizing variation orders during project implementation.”