Case Study: Rayburn Electric Cooperative meets growing power demand with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) panel solutions

Rayburn Electric Cooperative builds 12 stations in a year with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) partnered with Rayburn Electric Cooperative to manage the challenge of extremely rapid growth in its Texas service area. This growth, driven by new residential, commercial, and industrial customers including crypto miners, required Rayburn to build new transmission infrastructure quickly. The cooperative needed a reliable way to acquire and commission the complex control panels that serve as the "brains" of their new substations without overwhelming their small engineering staff.

The solution involved SEL providing pre-configured, standardized control panels that included protection relays, Real-Time Automation Controllers (RTAC), and networking devices. These panels were assembled, wired, and tested by SEL before delivery, which significantly simplified and accelerated the commissioning process for Rayburn. This partnership with SEL allowed the cooperative to dramatically increase its construction pace, building twelve new substations in a single year compared to just one new line in the previous decade, while avoiding costly project delays and remobilization fees that could reach over $100,000.

Rayburn Electric Cooperative