Blog details

Medium voltage switchgear is often treated as a procurement item.

In reality, it is the control nerve center of your power system.

When projects fail, it is rarely because the equipment was defective. It is because the integration was incomplete.

At Blackstar Diversified Enterprises, we focus on switchgear performance inside the system—not just inside the enclosure.

Protection Coordination Gaps

Common project failures originate from:

• Improper relay coordination
• Incorrect interrupting ratings
• Poor arc flash study alignment
• Incomplete short-circuit analysis
• Mismatched transformer and feeder protection

Switchgear is only as strong as the engineering behind it.

Thermal & Environmental Oversights

Medium voltage equipment must survive:

• Ambient heat loads
• Poor ventilation
• High fault duty
• Moisture and contamination
• Continuous demand growth

Ignoring environmental conditions leads to premature aging and downtime.

Engineering the Full Lifecycle

Reliable MV systems require:

• Detailed protection studies
• Load growth modeling
• Proper bus rating calculations
• Factory acceptance testing
• Clear field documentation

Switchgear should be engineered for 20–30 years of operation—not just for installation.

Medium voltage switchgear does not fail randomly.

It fails when system-level engineering is treated as optional.

At BDE, we design and integrate switchgear to perform under stress—not just at startup.