Hi everyone,

I am a new poster, but have been lurking these boards for a while now. My question is whether or not I am required to have a PE perform an arc flash study at my power plant in the State of California. I have been looking all over the place online, but cannot seem to find a straight answer. Our company has access to ArcPro, but none of the engineers on staff have performed an arc flash study before.

On a separate note, does anyone know if there have been any developments in arc flash boundaries for HVDC? We have +/- 200 kV DC lines on-site, and there has been quite a bit of contention regarding what the appropriate boundaries are. Obviously ArcPro doesn't really work for HVDC, and I have seen a bit of head scratching when it comes to scaling up DC boundaries past 600V. Any help here on either topic is appreciated!

Check the California website for the PE licensing board. It probably has copies of relevant laws and regulations. Probably the answer is "yes, you do need a PE or must work under the supervision of a PE" because performing an arc flash study is practicing engineering, but there may be utility exemptions.

I don't thing that ARCPRO would be the appropriate method for most power plant calculations. ARCPRO is appropriate for open air Ø-grd arcs. It would be appropriate in the powerplant outdoor substation yard and connecting overhead lines. For enclosed equipment inside the plant, I believe IEEE 1584 calculations would be more appropriate.

I agree that a software package that uses the IEEE 1584 calcs would be more appropriate for a power plant. When I was working at a utility I used EasyPower for inside the power plants as there was very little guidance in NESC for voltages less than 1000V, which covers the auxiliary systems in a power plant.

Thanks for the replies. The information posted has definitely helped out.