Chartered Electrical Safety Engineer
Our in-house Chartered Electrical Safety Engineer models your installation in validated ETAP software, then fixes the label your electricians read before they open a live panel. Studies for manufacturing plants, power plants, data centres, hospitals and IT parks, anywhere in India.
Overview
Your electricians open live low-voltage panels, motor control centres and distribution boards every week. If an arc strikes inside one, the harm depends on three things: the fault level at that bus, how fast the upstream breaker clears it and how close they stand. An arc flash study is what puts a number on all three.
The study builds your installation in ETAP. Short-circuit and coordination calculations then give the incident energy and arc flash boundary at every switchboard, as per IEEE 1584-2018. Each panel gets a label with its incident energy and the arc-rated personal protective equipment (PPE) NFPA 70E (2024) calls for. Management can set PPE, work rules and relay settings from a calculated number, not a guess.
Every study we conduct covers the following:
Compliance mandate
Not by name, but the duty is. Below is how it applies:
The Central Electricity Authority (Measures relating to Safety and Electric Supply) Regulations, 2023 make you responsible for safe operation and maintenance. They name no arc flash study.
Plants that follow an NFPA 70E-based safety standard, or face a customer or insurer audit, are often asked for an incident energy analysis and labels on every panel.
No rule forces the study. The reason to conduct one is the electrician at the panel door, who should know the incident energy before the cover comes off.
What's included
The study follows the power from the incomer down to the last distribution board an electrician opens. Below is the equipment modelled in ETAP and labelled in a typical plant:
High-tension (HT) breakers, relays and the utility's fault level at the incomer, modelled so every fault current downstream starts from the right number.
Transformer ratings and impedances, the low-tension (LT) main boards and bus couplers, where the fault current is highest and the incident energy usually peaks.
Each MCC bus, its incomer and its feeders. Drive panels and soft starters too. The label reflects the bus, not just one starter.
Lighting and power distribution boards, field panels, control panels. These are the covers opened most often. None goes unlabelled.
Diesel generators, the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and any solar inverter tie-in, each a fault source that changes the incident energy when it is running.
Every protective device's type, rating and as-found settings, read at the panel rather than off the drawing, since the trip time decides the incident energy.
How it works
Every study runs through the same five steps, whatever the size of the site:
We collect the single line diagram, cable schedules, transformer nameplates, protective device settings and the utility fault level at the point of supply.
Our engineers walk every panel, confirm nameplates, cable lengths, enclosure sizes and working distances, and correct the drawings where the plant has moved on.
We build your installation in ETAP. A short-circuit study to IEC 60909 and a coordination study give every bus its fault current and clearing time.
Incident energy and arc flash boundary are calculated at every bus with the IEEE 1584 method, for the operating scenarios the site runs, including generator mode.
The report gives every bus its incident energy, boundary and PPE as per NFPA 70E. We print and fix the labels and brief your electricians.
Why PowerTech
Four things that separate a study from a label-printing job:
Every study is conducted by a Chartered Electrical Safety Engineer authorised by the Government of Maharashtra under the CEA (MSES) Regulations, 2023.
We model on ETAP v24.0.3, validated by OTI, its developer, with the Short Circuit, Arc Flash and Relay Co-ordination modules.
Utility, generator and parallel modes are modelled where they apply, and the label carries the worst case.
A priority-wise mitigation list, from relay settings to arc-resistant switchgear, ordered by what cuts the most incident energy first.
Scope the study on its own, or fold it into a full electrical safety audit under the CEA (MSES) Regulations, 2023, where one site visit also covers earthing, thermography and protection.
The engineer who conducts your study
PowerTech's arc flash studies are conducted by Atul Kakad, Chartered Electrical Safety Engineer. He is also the qualified auditor on the firm's fire and life safety licence, so the same engineer reads the fire side of an electrical fault.
Chartered Electrical Safety Engineer
Regn. MAHCESE0001119052023, CEA (MSES) Regulations, 2023
Qualified Auditor, F&LSA Licence
MF&ES/F&LSA/0029, valid to 21 Sep 2027
Advance Diploma in Industrial Safety
First Class
FSAI Accredited Professional
Valid to 26 Feb 2027
Who we work with
Every facility with an HT incomer and LT panels has an arc flash hazard, whether it makes cars or runs servers. Our engineers scope the study to your switchboards and, once the labels are up, help your team work through the mitigation list.
Automobile and auto ancillary, pharma, chemical, steel and FMCG plants. HT switchgear, LT main boards and every MCC in scope.
Request a studyGeneration and switchyard auxiliaries, where fault levels run highest and the operating mode changes through the day.
Request a studyRound-the-clock loads on UPS and generator backup. Every source that can feed a fault is modelled, not just the utility.
Request a studyHeavy electrical environments where panels are opened often and the working distance is rarely the ideal one.
Request a studyEssential and non-essential supplies with generator changeover, on a site that cannot take a floor down to test.
Request a studyMulti-tenant boards and busbar risers, where the electrician opening a panel is often not the one who wired it.
Request a studyWhat plant heads and electrical managers ask us before they book:
Request a study
Send us a few lines on your site and what prompted the enquiry: a group standard asking for labels, a flashover or near-miss, or a new transformer or tie-in. We reply within 24 hours, then send a fixed scope.
A few details now, a fixed scope to follow.
Related services
An arc flash study answers one question: how much energy a fault releases before the protection clears it. The faults themselves start elsewhere, in a hot joint, a poor earth or an overloaded cable. PowerTech's 40+ engineers cover those too, from the full audit to a single test.
According to the BMC, 70 to 80% of fires in Mumbai start from faulty electrical connections. The full audit checks your installation under the CEA (MSES) Regulations, 2023, worst risks first.
See the safety auditA loose or overloaded joint heats up long before it fails. Thermal imaging of live panels, joints and terminations shows each hot spot and how far above normal it runs.
See thermographyA poor earth turns a fault into a shock or a fire instead of a trip. Each pit is measured with a calibrated tester and checked against IS 3043.
See earth pit testing