Working with Lake Engineering, we designed and built a high-voltage power line supplying four overhead services in Cherryville, BC. Each service delivers 600A single-phase power to a 125HP motor, 500HP in total. Every motor runs through a 363A ABB VFD, which handles three-phase conversion, speed control and pump safeties. The system currently moves 1,100 GPM, but together the pumps are capable of up to 3,000 GPM at 225 PSI over 2 km of 24” mainline to the upper bench equipment, irrigating roughly 500 acres of farmland. This multi-pump redundancy setup ensures minimal impact when servicing downed equipment.
Two pump stations, one system
The system feeds four pivots and three hose reels, and supplies a secondary pump station and holding pond midway through the line. The secondary station runs on its own new 600A service, powering a 20HP submersible pump and a 100HP centrifugal booster pump.
Controls and commissioning
We designed all of the system’s controls and completed full commissioning. The four pivots start remotely from a cellular app, relaying signals to the pump stations and the central rotary phase converters that supply three-phase power to the pivots. Supporting radios let the operator start or stop the system for any equipment scenario: running individual components, filling the holding pond, or managing pressure setpoints across the system.
