Power systems 路 Free
Substation Design: Layouts, Bus Schemes and Equipment
Design a 33/11 kV or 132/33 kV substation on paper: substation types, single-line diagrams and bus schemes, equipment ratings, fault levels, BIL and creepage, clearances in plan and section, busbar sizing, earthing and shielding, battery and charger sizing, control panels and SCADA signals, cables and lighting, civil interfaces, and energisation.
Inside the course
From the lessons
Substation types: AIS, GIS, outdoor and indoor, by voltage
Gaurav J - TheElectricalGuy
Switching equipment: circuit breakers and disconnectors, and how to rate them
CMTEQ
Short-circuit levels and insulation coordination: BIL and creepage
Commonwealth Associates, Inc
Busbar and conductor sizing
Electrical Thunderbolt
Auxiliary AC and DC systems: battery and charger sizing
ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGY and INDUSTRIAL PRACTICE
Cable trenches, cable schedules and yard lighting
Electrical Thunderbolt
Lesson frames belong to the creators named in the Credits below and are shown from YouTube.
What you will learn
Classify substations and choose between AIS and GIS; draw single-line diagrams and choose a bus scheme with reasons; rate circuit breakers, disconnectors, CTs, VTs, surge arresters and power transformers; calculate bus fault levels; choose BIL and creepage; set out clearances in plan and section; size busbars for current, short-time withstand and force; estimate earth grid resistance and shield the yard with masts; size the battery, charger and auxiliary transformer; write a SCADA signal list and a cable schedule; size yard lighting; give the civil team their inputs; and plan testing and energisation.
- Choose between AIS, GIS and hybrid substations for a site, and draw the single-line diagram
- Compare single, sectionalised, main and transfer, double bus, breaker-and-a-half and ring schemes
- Rate breakers, disconnectors, CTs, VTs, surge arresters and transformers from the fault level
- Choose BIL and creepage, and set clearances and heights in plan and section
- Size busbars for continuous current, short-time withstand and short-circuit force
- Size the substation battery, charger and auxiliary transformer from a duty cycle
- Write the SCADA signal list, cable schedule and civil inputs, and plan energisation
For you
Taking Substation Design: Layouts, Bus Schemes and Equipment from the United States
- Free in the United States, as everywhere, and self-paced: lessons, notes and the final assessment are open at any hour, so your time zone and shift pattern do not matter.
- The optional certificate for learners in the United States is a one-off US$28.99. What you get for it
- Plants across the Americas most often run Allen-Bradley, Siemens and Inductive Automation; each has its own free course to take next.
- See automation and engineering jobs in the United States, and what the industry looks like in Houston, Detroit and Chicago.
- EDWartens also has a regional site for the United States, for classroom training and local support: edwartens.com/us.
The course project 路 about 16 hours
Designing a 33/11 kV, 2 x 10 MVA substation: single-line diagram, equipment schedule, layout and battery sizing
Design a 33/11 kV, 2 x 10 MVA substation for a new industrial park on paper: draw the single-line diagram and choose the bus schemes, calculate the fault levels and rate the equipment, set out the layout in plan and section with its clearances, size the busbars, the battery, the charger and the auxiliary transformer, write the cable schedule for one transformer bay, and review the design against a checklist. The sample pack shows each document for an industrial park near Pune, India.
Sample document pack, 5 documents, filled in for the scenario
- Single lineSingle-line diagram description: 33/11 kV, 2 x 10 MVA substation
- RegisterEquipment schedule: 33 kV and 11 kV equipment
- ReportDesign calculations: fault level, clearances, busbar, DC system, auxiliaries, earthing and lighting
- Cable scheduleCable schedule: transformer bay T1
- ReportLayout, civil inputs and design-review record
Read inside the course and download as a workbook. The project is optional practice, marked when you submit it; the certificate needs only the modules and the final assessment.
Course content
14 modules 路 71 lessons 路 13h 14m
In order, at whatever pace suits you. Each module ends with a practice task that builds on the last.
- 01Substation types: AIS, GIS, outdoor and indoor, by voltage3 lessons34m
- 02Single-line diagrams and bus schemes9 lessons1h 7m
- 03Switching equipment: circuit breakers and disconnectors, and how to rate them7 lessons1h 15m
- 04Instrument transformers, surge arresters and power transformers8 lessons1h 29m
- 05Short-circuit levels and insulation coordination: BIL and creepage2 lessons1h 8m
- 06Electrical clearances and layout, in plan and section5 lessons53m
- 07Busbar and conductor sizing11 lessons1h 29m
- 08Substation earthing (overview) and shielding against direct strokes3 lessons48m
Requirements
- Who it is for
- Intermediate. For electrical engineering graduates, junior design engineers in utilities, EPC contractors and consultancies, and site engineers moving into design. You should know three-phase power and basic per-unit; fault calculation is revised where it is used.
- Software
- A spreadsheet (LibreOffice Calc is free) for the calculations. A free 2D drafting tool such as LibreCAD or QElectroTech for the single-line diagram and layout; AutoCAD (free student licence) is useful but not required. Google Earth for site context. What to download, and how
- Hardware
- None.
Software you need
What to download, where from, what it costs and how to install it. Every link goes to the maker's own site, never a mirror.
Nothing to install
A spreadsheet is enough for every calculation, and the single-line diagram, plan and section can be drawn by hand or in a free tool such as LibreCAD or QElectroTech. AutoCAD and Google Earth Pro are useful but optional.
Optional
Useful, not needed to finish the course.
- 01Free
LibreOffice
The Document Foundation
- Runs on
- Windows 10 or 11, macOS 11 or newer (Intel or Apple silicon), Linux
- Account
- None needed
- Size
- up to 1.5 GB of disk space on Windows
LibreOffice is free, open-source software under the Mozilla Public License 2.0, for any use including business. Calc is its spreadsheet.
Steps
- 1.Open the LibreOffice download page.
- 2.Check the page has picked your operating system, then select Download.
- 3.Run the installer (administrator rights are needed on Windows).
- 4.Start LibreOffice Calc for spreadsheet work.
- 5.Save as .xlsx if you need to share files with Excel users.
- Choose the latest main version unless your organisation asks for the older, more conservative release.
Official download pagelibreoffice.org - 02Free trial: 15 days
AutoCAD
Autodesk
- Runs on
- Windows 10 or 11 64-bit; AutoCAD for Mac on recent macOS versions
- Account
- A free Autodesk account
- Size
- about 10 GB of disk space for AutoCAD on Windows
The AutoCAD trial lasts 15 days in most regions (30 in a few), expires on its own and cannot be extended. Students and educators can get free one-year educational access through an Autodesk Education plan, renewable while they stay eligible; education licences are for learning only.
Steps
- 1.Open the AutoCAD free trial page on autodesk.com and select Download free trial.
- 2.Sign in to your Autodesk account, or create one.
- 3.Answer the short questions about how you will use AutoCAD.
- 4.Download the installer from your Autodesk account and run it.
- 5.Start AutoCAD and sign in with the same Autodesk account.
- If you are a student or teacher, use the Autodesk Education route instead: it lasts a year, not 15 days.
- Plan your practice before starting the trial, since it cannot be extended.
Official download pageautodesk.comAlternatives
- Autodesk Education plan: Free one-year access for verified students and educators, renewable while eligible.
- LibreCAD: Free open-source 2D CAD if you only need basic drafting practice.
- 03Free
Google Earth Pro on desktop
Google
- Runs on
- Windows, macOS or Linux
- Account
- None needed
Google Earth Pro on desktop is free. Google has announced it will no longer be available for new downloads from 25 June 2027; copies installed before then keep working, and Google points users to Google Earth on the web.
Steps
- 1.Open the Google Earth versions page.
- 2.Select Download Earth Pro on desktop.
- 3.Accept the terms and download the installer for your system.
- 4.Run the installer and start Google Earth Pro.
- 5.Use the ruler, placemark and historical imagery tools the course asks for.
- Install it before 25 June 2027 if you want the desktop version.
- Google Earth on the web now has many of the same tools and needs no installation.
Official download pagegoogle.comAlternatives
- Google Earth on the web: Free in a browser; Google's recommended replacement for the desktop app.
Checked against each maker's own page on 27 September 2026. Trial lengths and editions change; the maker's page is the final word.
Substation Design: Layouts, Bus Schemes and Equipment at a glance
Substation Design: Layouts, Bus Schemes and Equipment is a free, self-paced online course from EDWartens for electrical design engineers and graduates who design 33/11 kV and 132/33 kV substations. It has 14 modules and 13h 14m of video lessons by Gaurav J - TheElectricalGuy, CMTEQ, Electrical Thunderbolt and others, with written notes and worked problems, a practical project with a document pack and a 15-question final assessment (pass mark 60%). Learning is free with an account; an optional certificate with a public verification code is issued when you pass. Last updated 27 September 2026.
All course factsHide course facts
- Price
- Free, for good. No trial, no card. The only paid item is the optional certificate, a small one-off fee.
- Who it is for
- Electrical design engineers and graduates who design 33/11 kV and 132/33 kV substations
- Format
- 14 self-paced modules, 13h 14m of video, written notes, a practice task per module and one final assessment.
- Level
- Intermediate. Intermediate. For electrical engineering graduates, junior design engineers in utilities, EPC contractors and consultancies, and site engineers moving into design. You should know three-phase power and basic per-unit; fault calculation is revised where it is used.
- Brand
- Vendor-neutral
- Software
- A spreadsheet (LibreOffice Calc is free) for the calculations. A free 2D drafting tool such as LibreCAD or QElectroTech for the single-line diagram and layout; AutoCAD (free student licence) is useful but not required. Google Earth for site context.
- Hardware
- None.
- Certificate
- Optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion, verifiable by code. Not a vendor credential.
- Video lessons by
- Gaurav J - TheElectricalGuy, CMTEQ, Electrical Thunderbolt, DC Engineering, ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGY and INDUSTRIAL PRACTICE, Commonwealth Associates, Inc (independent creators, credited below)
- Language
- English
- Last updated
- 27 September 2026
A shareable EDWartens certificate
Finish every module and pass the final assessment, and the optional EDWartens certificate is yours. It carries a unique verification code on a public page anyone can check, so it stands up when a recruiter looks it up. See it below.
The course itself stays free whether or not you ever buy one.
Stuck? Ask a practising engineer
A free course usually means a comment section and hope. This one does not. Every module has an Ask-your-trainer panel that reaches the same engineers who teach our paid programme: people who commission panels for a living, not moderators.
Pairs well with
PLC programming 路 FreeSiemens TIA PortalFrom zero electrical knowledge to a working, simulated S7-1200 program, for nothing.
PLC programming 路 FreeSiemens TIA Portal in Three HoursThe first three hours of the Siemens TIA Portal course, cut to end on a win: what a PLC is, how it is wired, a project configured in TIA Portal, and your first ladder program running in simulation. Finish it in an evening or two, earn a certificate, and carry straight on into the full course.
PLC programming 路 FreeTIA Portal: Build a MachineOne machine, start to finish. Take a bottle filling line from a written specification and an I/O list to a structured S7-1200 program with a fill station, a capper, a reject sorter and an operator screen with alarms, then test it against a written record and archive it for hand-over. The lessons are the reference; the machine is yours, and it is what you submit.
Instrumentation 路 FreeInstrumentation for PLC EngineersThe half of the loop that is not code. Follow one measurement from the transmitter in the field, down the 4-20 mA loop, into the analog card, through NORM_X and SCALE_X into engineering units, out again to a valve, and back to the control room when the reading is wrong.More free courses: Free electrical design and control panel courses 路 Free power system and ETAP courses
Learner reviews
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Reviews here are written only by learners who have finished every module of Substation Design: Layouts, Bus Schemes and Equipment, and they are published exactly as written. Finish the course and yours will be the first.
Common questions
Who is this substation design course for?
Electrical engineering graduates, junior design engineers in distribution companies, utilities, EPC contractors and consultancies, and site engineers moving into design. It suits engineers applying for substation design roles at utilities, EPC contractors and consultancies, where 33/11 kV and 132/33 kV substations are built every year.
What do I need to know before starting?
Three-phase power and basic per-unit quantities. Fault calculation, insulation levels and the standards the course uses are explained where they are needed. No design software or site experience is required.
Do I need AutoCAD or ETAP?
No. The calculations are done by hand or in a free spreadsheet, and the single-line diagram, plan and section can be drawn in a free tool such as LibreCAD or QElectroTech. AutoCAD with a free student licence is useful if you have it. Detailed system studies in software are covered by the EDWartens ETAP Power System Analysis course.
Which standards does the course follow?
IEC first: IEC 61936-1 for clearances and fire separation, IEC 60071 for insulation levels, IEC 60815 for creepage, IEC 62271 for switchgear ratings and IEC 60865 for short-circuit forces, with IEEE 80, IEEE 998 and IEEE 485 for earthing, shielding and batteries. Notes point out where national utility practice differs, with India's CEA and CBIP rules and Gulf utilities as worked examples. The course paraphrases the standards; check the edition your utility uses.
How is this different from the IEC 61850 Substation Automation course?
This course designs the substation itself: scheme, equipment, layout, busbars, earthing, DC system and civil interfaces. The IEC 61850 Substation Automation course covers the communication and automation system inside it. Take this one first and the 61850 course next if you will engineer substation automation.
How long does the Substation Design: Layouts, Bus Schemes and Equipment course take?
About 19 hours of video lessons, notes and practice, taken at your own pace; the videos alone are about 13 hours. The optional project, a 33/11 kV, 2 x 10 MVA substation design, takes about 16 hours more.
Is the course free, and what certificate do I get?
Every module, the notes, the project and the final assessment are free. If you pass the 15-question final at 60 percent you can get an EDWartens Certificate of Completion, with a number anyone can verify on our site. It is a certificate of completion, not a licence, a utility approval or a professional engineering credential.
What jobs does it lead to?
Substation design engineer and electrical design engineer roles with distribution companies, transmission utilities, EPC contractors and consultancies, and site and testing engineer roles on substation projects. Employers will still expect experience with their own standards and drawing practice, which this course prepares you to learn quickly.
What you walk away with
Your certificate for Substation Design: Layouts, Bus Schemes and Equipment
Finish the course, pass the final, and this is the document with your name on it.
Verifiable by anyone
Adds to LinkedIn in one click
QR code on the certificate
Names what you can do
A permanent link
Earned, not attended
Learning is free. The certificate is optional.
Add it now and pay only when you have finished the course, or come back for it later. One-off, US$28.99, with a receipt.
Issued by EDWartens, the training division of Wartens, as a Certificate of Completion for this self-paced course. Sold by Wartens Ltd (England and Wales). It is not a vendor certification, a university award or a CPD-accredited activity, and it does not certify competence on live equipment. Delivered electronically; see the refund policy.
Credits
Who made the video lessons
The video lessons in this course were created by the people below, not by EDWartens. Every lesson streams from its creator's own YouTube channel; EDWartens neither hosts nor sells that footage, and the creators are not affiliated with EDWartens and do not endorse this course. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks and the assessments.
- Gaurav J - TheElectricalGuythe Substation and Switchgear lessons: what a substation is for, classification of substations, AIS versus GIS, reading single-line diagrams, the 33/11 kV and 132/33 kV SLDs, bus bar arrangements, the bus coupler, live and dead tank breakers, auto-reclosing duty, disconnector parameters, short-time and peak currents, CT parameters, the five vital clearances, AIS versus GIS selection, substation grounding and how it is tested, why control circuits use DC, the MV switchgear control compartment, switchgear monitoring, high-voltage testing of MV switchgear, and the equipment quick revision used before the final
- CMTEQthe Substation Components series: power transformers, tap changers, circuit breakers, busbars, lightning arresters, disconnectors and earth switches, CTs and VTs, neutral earthing resistors, the objectives of protection, and the 132 kV switchyard single-line diagram
- Electrical Thunderboltbusbar sizing and selection to IEC, ANSI and IEEE (parts 1 to 9) and busbar sag calculation, voltage transformer sizing and selection, substation earthing design to IEEE 80 (part 1), and substation cable sizing and selection (parts 1 to 5)
- DC Engineeringthe Substation Configurations lessons on radial, ring bus and breaker-and-a-half arrangements
- ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGY and INDUSTRIAL PRACTICEthe Substation design series lessons on the specification of a substation, facilities and basic layout guidelines, and auxiliary power
- Commonwealth Associates, Incinsulation coordination explained: protecting substation assets from surges and lightning
- Dr. David Lubkemanthe Power System Transients lecture on an insulation and surge arrester example
- stephen brookssubstation clearances, and substation cable trays (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghjm_VEclmU)
- George Flewsubstation lightning protection with the IEEE 998 rolling sphere method
- Electrical Superintendentsubstation battery chargers: charger functions and components, and the typical DC control system layout (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AayQVHAan2Q)
- Circuit Masterclassa step-by-step VRLA battery sizing calculation for a substation, and the bay control unit in a substation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fntEEPo0mg)
- Sacademicusan introduction of the substation to civil and structural engineers
- Annai Teresa Ecthe design procedure for substation equipment foundations
- BESA Researchtransformer fire wall requirements and fire protection solutions
- SA Power Networkshow a substation is built from scratch, as a time-lapse of the civil and electrical works
- Keentel Engineeringtransformer commissioning and its testing guide
If you are one of these creators and would like a lesson removed or credited differently, write to info@wartens.com.