Many failures occur on components and power systems during the first year of service. Similarly, there are many unnecessary outages during the initial period of operation due to a variety of causes, such as: improper coordination of protective devices, improper calibration of protective devices, instruments or meters; wiring errors; design errors, etc. These failures can be drastically reduced through a comprehensive program of acceptance testing performed by a qualified testing company using proper test and inspection equipment.

There are 3 main benefits of acceptance testing:

1. Verification of proper installation. Acceptance testing determines whether the equipment was installed in compliance with the design intent and the manufacturer's recommended settings. This is critical in case of defective equipment and enforcement of manufacturer’s warranties.
    

2. Verification of proper operation.  Acceptance testing indicates any damage during shipment or installation.
    

3. Benchmarking important test values.  Acceptance testing measures benchmark test results that are used throughout the life of the power system or component. These baseline test results help with predictive maintenance prior to failure.

HVM offers three distinct levels of acceptance and inspection testing.

Level 1
Inspection and testing of system components. This service ascertains the condition of the components and determines whether they are suitable for service. It also establishes benchmarks for future tests.

Level 2
Wire-by-wire checkout. This service can be performed either on the interconnection wiring only or on both factory wiring and the interconnections. It assures that all wiring is in accordance with the electrical drawings for the project and also verifies that each wire has adequate insulation resistance.

Level 3
Engineering Review. This service consists of a review of the design and drawings of the system. If desired, this service also includes a protection system coordination study and a system short-circuit analysis. This level of service determines whether any conceptual or detail errors occurred during the design stage and also assures that all protective devices are properly coordinated and that all interrupting devices are rated to withstand the maximum fault duty that might be imposed on them.