Baoding Jida Electric Power Design planned to establish a new, 110-kilovolt substation but determined that their standard substation design needed an update. For the new version, they wanted to increase the station area and add an auxiliary room and a battery room to improve operations and reliability. Due to the complexity of the new elements, they needed to go beyond 2D drawings and use 3D design.

After weighing their options, they determined all elements of the updated substation could be modeled with Bentley applications. While drafting the digital model, they pinpointed clashes and determined how to remediate them. For example, they determined a cabling tunnel did not meet national standards, so they increased the tunnel depth from 2.5 meters to 3 meters. Eliminating the need for rework saved 2% in costs and improved efficiency by 5%. Simulating the work schedule improved construction efficiency by 10%.