Homs Governorate, Syria — ICC Energy DWC-LLC
A Landmark in Homs
How the Homs 400/230 kV Substation Came Together
ICC Energy DWC-LLC
Homs Governorate, Syria
Some infrastructure projects are best told through announcements and milestones. Others are better understood through the work itself — the studies, the site mobilization, the months of cabling and concrete that turn a design on paper into a live piece of the grid.
The Homs 400/230 kV Transformation Substation, delivered by ICC Energy DWC-LLC for Syria's Ministry of Electricity, is a project worth telling that second way.
Before a Single Foundation Was Poured
Long before excavators arrived on site in Homs Governorate, the project existed only as a set of engineering questions. How much load would the substation need to carry, and how would power flow through it under normal and fault conditions? What would happen, electrically, if something failed? How should protection systems be coordinated across the 400 kV and 230 kV sides of the station, and how would the site's own soil behave under a lightning strike or an earth fault?
ICC Energy's engineering team worked through this sequence methodically: a full grid load flow analysis, a short-circuit and fault-level study, protection coordination studies for both the substation and its connecting lines, insulation coordination and transient voltage analysis, and dedicated earthing and lightning protection studies tailored to the site itself. Each study fed directly into the next — dozens of single-line diagrams at both 400 kV and 230 kV, general arrangement drawings for the station layout, civil and cable-routing drawings, and secondary circuit and protection diagrams that would eventually guide every panel and relay installed on site.
It's easy to overlook this phase in a finished substation — none of it is visible once the station is energized. But it is the phase that determines whether everything built afterward actually works together.
Standing Up a Site From Nothing
Once the engineering foundation was in place, ICC Energy had to build a project — not just a substation. The contract, awarded by the Ministry of Electricity on May 2, 2020, and made effective on May 9, 2020, called for a full EPC delivery: design, procurement, and construction, executed over a 24-month period, for a total contract value of 31,567,335,000 Syrian Pounds.
That meant mobilizing a complete site organization before construction could begin in earnest: a project manager and site manager to run the operation, a planning engineer to hold the 24-month schedule together, a QA/QC engineer and an HSE officer to keep quality and safety embedded in daily work, dedicated site electrical and civil engineers, a quantity surveyor, storekeeper, document controller, and site administrator. Around them, ICC Energy stood up the physical infrastructure of a construction site in the middle of a governorate still finding its footing: prefabricated offices, a covered material warehouse, temporary yard space, site fencing, water and power utilities, a 50-ton telescopic crane, an excavator, and a rotating fleet of service vehicles — all sustained for two years by a team that, at points, included around-the-clock security coverage.
Out of the Ground
With the site established, the civil works began — the unglamorous, load-bearing work that every substation depends on. Crews cleared and leveled roughly 65,000 square meters of ground, stripped topsoil, and excavated for foundations and cable trenches. Selected backfill and compacted layers went back in beneath the yards, followed by crushed gravel and lean concrete blinding to prepare for the structural pours. Reinforced concrete foundations were then cast specifically for the 400 kV breakers, switches, and current and voltage transformer stands that would carry the station's highest-voltage equipment.
Only once this groundwork was complete did the electrical build-out begin in earnest: high-voltage equipment at 400 kV — circuit breakers, disconnectors, current and voltage transformers — power transformers stepping between 230 kV and 400 kV complete with cooling systems, and medium-voltage equipment at the 230 kV level. Protection, control, and monitoring systems were installed and integrated into a SCADA platform, with power cables, control cables, and fiber optics laid and connected throughout the site, and grounding and lightning protection systems tied into the earthing study completed months earlier.
Two Milestones, Not One
Unlike a project with a single completion date, the Homs substation reached the finish line in two distinct steps — a structure that reflects how seriously the handover was managed. Mechanical completion, marking the point at which all equipment was installed and the station was physically ready, was achieved on March 1, 2022. Final commissioning — after a full program of testing and trial operation confirmed the station was performing as designed — followed on May 1, 2022.
The Ministry of Electricity's confirmed project successful completion in May, 2022, formally confirmed what those two milestones represented: a 400/230 kV substation built, tested, and accepted in full accordance with its contract, now operating within Syria's electrical grid.
For ICC Energy, Homs stands alongside its earlier delivery of the Aleppo 400/230 kV substation as further evidence of a repeatable capability: taking on complex, high-voltage EPC projects in demanding environments and carrying them, methodically, from first study to final handover.
Project at a Glance
Project
400/230 kV Transformation Substation
Location
Homs Governorate, Syria
Client
Ministry of Electricity, Syria
Contractor
ICC Energy DWC-LLC
Contract Value
SYP 31,567,335,000
Contract Award
May 2, 2020
Mechanical Completion
March 1, 2022
Final Commissioning
May 1, 2022
Site Area
65,000 m²
Execution Period
24 Months
Status
Successfully Commissioned
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