We have a project where the service lateral extends underground from an exterior underground utility maintenance hole to at CT cabinet section of switchgear in the parking area (lowest floor). The service lateral conductors are (4) Sets of 500 KCMIL Copper (1520 amps).
These conductors terminate on (according to the record documentation) a 1600A bus; however, there are no nameplates on the gear, so the bus rating could not be verified. The equipment has a main service disconnect which also had the rating covered by the switchgear cover, and we were unable to open it while on site without deenergizing the entire building (not an option at that time).
Article 100
The first question we would like to ask: Do the incoming conductors which terminate on the CT cabinet fall under the requirements of the NEC? Our answer is no, according to Article 100 Definitions:
Service Lateral. Underground electric utility conductors from the electric utility supply to the service point.
Conclusion: the conductors are under the exclusive control of the electric utility and, therefor, are not subject to the requirements of Article 230.
Service Point [Article 230]. The point where the electric utility conductors make contact with premises wiring.
The conductors terminate on the lugs within the CT cabinet, where the remainder of the system is premise busway and wiring. The NEC jurisdiction, therefor, begins at the Service Point, and the rating of the existing conductors can be disregarded in consideration for capacity of the system.
What Does the NEC Say for Nameplate-less Equipment?
@Carter Huddleston @Binoy Balan any additional thoughts here? Is there direction in the code on ways to implicitly determine busway rating such that we can confirm, absent the nameplate, how much we can connect to this equipment? Or conversely, does it explicitly prohibit such connection?
After discussing with the electrician, they are calling the manufacturer to have it certified and new nameplate applied. Still looking into a code reference to tie this together if anyone knows of one that applies to a scenario like this.