ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION DESIGN.
BOTH SIDES OF THE METER.

Distribution design and permit drawings

SLC produces the full distribution package: load and capacity studies, single-line diagrams, service and feeder design, protection and coordination, metering, and the permit-ready construction drawings the authority having jurisdiction and the serving utility approve.

Every set is engineered to the National Electrical Code (NFPA 70) and the serving utility's construction standards, because a drawing that clears local plan check but fails the utility's review has not actually moved the project forward. SLC designs to both from the first sheet.

Because one licensed engineer owns the whole package, the design the contractor builds from is the same design the utility and the AHJ approved. There is no handoff gap where a drafter's assumption survives into the field.

Medium voltage distribution, overhead and underground

Medium voltage distribution carries power above 1,000 volts, between low-voltage building power and high-voltage transmission, and it is where most commercial, industrial, and utility primary service lives. Power steps down a voltage ladder on its way to a site: transmission at 115kV and above, subtransmission at roughly 34.5kV to 69kV, distribution from 2.4kV to 35kV, and the service voltage, 120V to 600V, that buildings use. SLC designs medium voltage distribution up to 60kV, overhead on pole lines or underground in duct banks.

Overhead work includes pole-line design and pole-line replacements built to the serving utility's standards. Underground work covers duct bank design, manhole and vault layout, conductor and conduit sizing, and the routing that keeps a system within capacity and clear of conflicts. SLC also engineers customer-owned primary service, where a site takes power at primary voltage and owns the equipment past the point of delivery.

Utility coordination and PG&E Applicant Design

Utility coordination is the work of getting a site's electrical service designed, approved, and energized by the serving utility, and it is usually the longest pole in a distribution project. SLC opens it at the start and runs it in parallel with the site design across PG&E, SCE, SDG&E, and SMUD in California, and the serving utilities where the work reaches Oregon, Nevada, and Washington.

SLC is a PG&E-Qualified Applicant Designer (QAD). Under PG&E's Applicant Design program, established by CPUC Decision 97-12-099, a qualified firm prepares the utility-side distribution design directly and submits it to PG&E for review rather than waiting in the utility's internal design queue. SLC Energy Solutions appears on PG&E's Qualified Applicant Designer List for electric work, covering Rule 15, Rule 16, and Rule 29 service applications, so the utility-side design and the customer-side design can move under one firm.

Designing the utility side and the customer side together is where the schedule is won or lost. When the same engineer carries both, the service application, the utility-standard design, and the site drawings stay consistent, and the review that releases a connection has one point of accountability.

Service and capacity planning

Service and capacity planning is the engineering that sizes a site's electrical service to the load it actually has to carry, now and as it grows. It starts with a load study that establishes real demand, because an undersized service forces an expensive upgrade later and an oversized one wastes capital up front.

SLC scopes the service, the metering, and the upgrade path so a site's electrical capacity matches its plan, whether that is a single new building or a phased development that adds load over years. On high-load sites, the capacity question often pulls in storage and demand management, which is where distribution design connects to SLC's battery storage and microgrid work.

Government and utility distribution work

Government and utility distribution work is electrical distribution engineering for public agencies, military installations, and the utilities themselves, where the design answers to federal or utility construction standards on top of local code. SLC has engineered distribution for PG&E, the U.S. Air Force at Beale AFB, and the U.S. Space Force at Vandenberg, along with public and quasi-public clients including San Jose Water and Siskiyou Telephone.

This work rewards an engineer who reads a standard set closely and designs to it the first time, because the review cycles on government and utility projects are long and unforgiving.

What distribution design costs, and what drives it

The cost of an electrical distribution project is driven by the site, not by a flat rate: the existing service, the new load, how much utility work the connection triggers, and whether the run is overhead or underground. The largest single cost lever is sizing the service correctly the first time, which is why the engineering starts with a load study before anyone prices construction.

SLC scopes the load and the utility path up front so the budget reflects the real site rather than a placeholder.

A distribution record across four states

SLC has supported 80+ projects and more than $350M in total site construction value across California, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington, including utility-side distribution for PG&E and government distribution for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force.

The distribution clients span utilities, the military, casinos, telecom, water utilities, lodging, and biomass energy, overhead and underground, from low voltage through 60kV. It is a record built on the customer side and the utility side of the meter, the combination most engineering firms do not carry.