Best Project Manufacturing: Verizon Mobile Switch Center
Completed in February 2023, this 19,000-sq-ft building expansion includes a 7,100-sq-ft data center/switch room, electrical rooms, uninterruptible power supply rooms and other services to support Verizon’s 5G network in Aurora and the surrounding area. The $5.4-million facility is a replica of other facilities Verizon is building across the country and features a design for complete redundancy. It is equipped with two 2,500-kVA utility transformers, each supported by a 4,000-amp switchboard. Backing up the two switchboards are 3-MW standby generators via cascading 4,000-amp automatic transfer switches. The data center is further supported by six 600-kVA UPS modules with a potential full build-out of 1.4 MW due to dark office load.
Pandemic and supply chain delays drove Verizon’s leadership to intervene and prioritize the manufacture and delivery of two delayed 4,000-amp automatic transfer switches (ATS). The client worked with Weifield to come up with a plan to get power downstream from the switchgear and bypass the ATSs during the six-month delay.