Generator Bus Bar
Silver Replating
Duke Energy’s Anclote Power Plant had approximately 2,500 linear feet of generator bus bar due for refurbishment. Southern Switch transported the bus to our Palm Harbor shop, stripped the old Raychem insulation, stripped and replated every end and splice plate with silver, installed new Raychem tubing, and transported it back — all within a two-week scheduled outage window.
Two weeks to do it right.
Generator bus bar at a power plant runs from the generator terminals through the unit transformer and step-up connections. After years in service, the Raychem heat-shrink insulation on Duke’s Anclote bus had reached the end of its service life. The bus ends and splice plates — silver-plated aluminum contact surfaces — also needed to be stripped and replated.
Duke’s crew disconnected and removed the bus. Southern Switch handled everything after that: loaded the bus onto our trailers, transported it to our shop in Palm Harbor, performed all the stripping and plating work, installed new Raychem insulation, and transported it back ready for Duke to reinstall. The entire scope was completed within the scheduled outage window — two weeks, including weekends.
Transport back.
Southern Switch’s scope covered everything between removal and reinstallation. The bus came to us bare; it went back insulated, plated, and ready for Duke’s crews to bolt in place.
- →Strip old silver plating from all ends and splice plates
- →Clean and prepare aluminum substrate
- →Apply zincate strike to displace aluminum oxide layer
- →Electroplate with silver to specified thickness
- →Strip all existing Raychem heat-shrink insulation
- →Inspect bare bus for damage or deformation
- →Install new Raychem tubing across full bus length
- →Transport back to Anclote Plant ready for reinstallation
to aluminum directly.
Most plating shops either avoid aluminum substrates or do them poorly. The problem is the oxide layer. Aluminum oxidizes the moment it’s exposed to air, forming a thin aluminum oxide film on the surface. Silver will not bond to that oxide layer — the plating looks fine, but it peels or flakes under thermal cycling and mechanical stress.
The correct process uses a zincate strike before electroplating. The zincate solution dissolves the oxide layer and deposits a thin zinc layer in its place, giving the silver something to bond to. It’s an additional step that most shops skip — and skipping it is why you see silver-plated aluminum bus connections that develop high resistance over time. The zinc interlayer is what makes the plating last.
Silver is the standard contact plating for high-current bus connections. It has low contact resistance, resists oxidation at the joint face, and handles thermal cycling far better than bare aluminum or copper. At generator bus current levels, contact resistance at every bolted joint matters.
Aluminum forms a native oxide film instantly on exposure to air. Silver won’t adhere to that oxide. Without the correct prep sequence, the plating appears bonded but will delaminate under service conditions — exactly the failure mode that produces hot joints and bus faults.
The zincate strike uses an alkaline zinc solution to displace the aluminum oxide and deposit a thin, adherent zinc layer. Silver electroplating then bonds directly to the zinc interlayer. Done correctly, the adhesion is permanent and the contact surface behaves consistently across the operating temperature range.
Raychem bus insulation is cross-linked polyolefin heat-shrink tubing rated for continuous service at generator bus temperatures. It replaces the aged original without changes to bus geometry or clearances. Application is straightforward but must be sequenced correctly with the plating work — the ends are plated bare and covered last.
Call (727) 789-0951 or reach out below. We handle generator bus bar, switchgear bus, and substation bus — silver and tin plating on aluminum and copper, Raychem insulation, and transport. Outage scheduling available.