The author
Stuart Banner
Chief Executive Officer · High Voltage Commissioning Ltd
Fifteen years in high voltage commissioning, held as a Senior Authorised Person on UK networks from 11kV package substations to 132kV bay work. Everything published in the Insights section is written from that field experience — commissioning sequences that were actually run, protection defects that were actually found, and maintenance regimes that actually reduced outages.
Experience and competence
HV commissioning, 11kV to 132kV
Pre-energisation inspection, primary and secondary injection, energisation and on-load proving on package substations, ring main units, primary substations and 132kV bays.
Senior Authorised Person provision
Appointed SAP under DNO and private safety rules — switching, isolation, earthing, permits to work and sanctions for test, with personal responsibility for those working under the documents issued.
Protection and design
Protection settings review, grading and coordination studies, relay configuration verification and HV design support for connections, renewables and private networks.
Why the company exists
High Voltage Commissioning Ltd was set up because commissioning is routinely treated as the last bar on a programme rather than the discipline that proves an installation is safe to own. Every defect a commissioning engineer finds late was cheaper to find early. We work the other way round: involved at design and settings stage, with a test schedule issued before mobilisation and a handover pack that still makes sense in a decade.
What we deliver
- HV commissioning from 11kV package substations to 132kV bay commissioning
- Senior Authorised Person provision under DNO and private safety rules
- Planned preventative maintenance and condition-based HV maintenance regimes
- Protection settings, grading and coordination studies
- HV design support and factory acceptance test witnessing
Sectors
Utilities and DNO connections, renewable generation and battery storage, data centres, industrial and manufacturing sites, rail, and private HV networks across the UK.